On Crumbling Lives
by stefanie.sycamore
Summary: Keep your head down, stay quiet, and do as you're told. That is what Daphne and Astoria Greengrass must do to survive this war. But when Daphne gets an order to do the unthinkable, the sisters world comes crashing down around them.
1. Return

The suburban home was dark with the only light being little lamp burning at the kitchen table with three shadowy figures seated around it. A fourth figure slunk through the darkness, quietly on the tips of her toes, towards the meeting she was so clearly excluded from. The small figure hid in the darkness of the kitchen, crouching behind a marble counter, listening to the hushed conversation between her parents and older sister.

"We can't leave," a pretty middle-aged woman with fluffy, blonde hair whispered. Her warm brown eyes had a kind of nervousness about them, a shaky quality as she tugged at the fabric of her purple dress, threatening to rip it with her compulsive fiddling. "This is our home, Daphne! I'm not leaving England!"

"Norella, love," a burly man with a bouncing mustache said in a deep, husky tone. He looked lovingly at his wife, but his weary, little eyes wanted to be anywhere else. His shirt was carefully starched, the way it always was when he went to his fine office in the Ministry of Magic. "Your brother's in America. We could join him. We don't have to live in fear."

"We're not in danger here!" Norella squeaked. Astoria could tell from her dark hiding spot that her mother had begun to cry. She felt tears begin to sting her own eyes, rolling down her cheeks at the thought of her family leaving England for America. Norella was right, England was their home, no matter what.

"We're blood traitors," a dark haired girl with beady black eyes spat out. Daphne Greengrass, only two years older than little Astoria, seemed worlds older than her sister. While Daphne had always been treated as an adult, Astoria was a perpetual child. It didn't help that Astoria liked to dress in warm, floral things like her mother, while Daphne had adopted a very utilitarian style. She looked as if she were living in a war even before she was actually living in a war. "Blood purity only goes so far when you've been tinkering with muggle science for decades!"

Daphne shot an accusing look at her father as she spoke. Linus shrunk back into his chair, away from his daughter's glare. The thought of decades worth of magical and muggle research in his office upstairs made his stomach queasy.

"That's enough, Daphne!" Norella snapped in a shrill voice. She didn't yell at her daughters often, but she was adamant about staying. Norella had lived in that home since she was first married at twenty-years-old. She'd given birth to both her daughters in that home and she intended to die in the house. "We'll be fine. We aren't leaving this house! You and Astoria are going to Hogwarts in a week and that is final! Linus, please!"

"Your mother is right, Daph," Linus sighed. He rubbed his temples with his wide thumbs and took his wife's shaking hand in his, rubbing small circles across it with his big thumb. In the dim light, Astoria could just make out the grey streaks in Linus's still full hair.

Daphne narrowed her eyes at both her parents, annoyed at their attachment to the house. Of course, she loved their home as well, but Daphne was nothing if not practical.

"Back to that school then? Back to the school that's run by a murdering madman? Where Astoria and I will be surrounded by the children of Death Eaters? And who knows, maybe more of them are Death Eaters now! Draco joined up, what's stopping Pansy or Crabbe? I wouldn't put it past those two to join up, but they probably aren't bright enough! Surrounded by them, mum! Is that what you want?"

"Stop it Daphne! We aren't talking about this anymore," Norella slammed her fist on the table and silenced her eldest daughter. Norella quickly composed herself after the outburst, but it had seemed to shatter something in the quiet atmosphere, the slam of her first echoing through the whole house. Daphne's thin lips froze in contempt and she glared coldly at her mother. The tension around the table was unmistakable. Astoria, from across the room could feel it creep along her skin. The tears were still rolling down her own face. She wiped them silently and held her breath, not wanting anyone of realize that she was listening in.

Astoria knew that Daphne had a point. They could sneak away to America and live with her Uncle Alfie and his family in America. They could be safe. They could be happy there. But England was her home. This house was where Astoria and Daphne were born. They learned how to talk here and they got their Hogwarts letters here. Their neighbours had gone on the run and the school had been taken over by the new regime and the Ministry had fallen, but they couldn't abandon their homeland in her time of need. England needed them.

The two sisters sat across from each other in silence on the train ride to school. Astoria stared at her feet, while Daphne stared straight ahead, her small eyes cutting through Astoria's skull. The English countryside whirred past them, but the girls didn't notice as they kept the blinds shut, keeping their compartment in the dark.

The girls looked enough alike, but there was something distinctly different about them. While Astoria was described in soft, sweet words, anyone who met Daphne always saw her in a cold light. Sunshine bathed Astoria's black hair and skin, turning it soft and sparkling, but Daphne sat in the shadows. Her eyes were blank and her hair dull. She had never been the pretty sister, but she was always the tough one. The one her parents could rely on to never cry over an injury or never complain about anything. Astoria was the delicate one. Everyone doted on her, thinking that one wrong move would destroy her. Daphne didn't resent her sister for it, she had never needed that affection, she had only ever needed Astoria.

"Tori?" Daphne finally spoke, breaking their odd silence. Her voice was a rough alto. "It's going to be okay."

"You can't guarantee that, Daph," Astoria said in a dejected tone. It broke Daphne's heart to hear her sister talk in such a dead way. Her sister lived and breathed joy and happiness and beauty. She couldn't allow this darkness that had swept her nation to destroy her sister as well.

"I promise you, Tori," Daphne swore. "I promise you that it'll be okay. I'll take care of you. I won't ever let anyone hurt you, Tori. You won't be afraid here. You won't be in danger. Everything will be fine. We'll be okay."

Daphne stared into Astoria' big, doll-like eyes, wondering how someone so pure had become so hopeless. All her life, Astoria had been Daphne's own ray of sunshine. She needed Astoria to lift her up again when her own world got too dark. She needed that perpetual smile in her dark world. When her friend, Draco, had become a Death Eater in sixth year, Astoria was there to comfort Daphne and make her believe that it would all be okay. When Cedric Diggory passed away in her fourth year, Astoria assured Daphne that he was in a better place. When no one else in the world could tell that Daphne was hurting, Astoria knew because she just always did. But it was gone now her light was gone and Astoria needed Daphne.

"You can't promise that," she finally said.

With military precision, Astoria, Daphne, and the rest of Slytherin House marched down to their quarters. The feast had been devoid of the joy that usually marked the beginning of the year feast. There was none of the loudness, none of the colour. There was only gloom with the only cheers coming when Professor Snape took the gold inlaid chair in the centre of the room and when they announced the new regime and then again when Neville Longbottom was dragged out of the hall, presumably for some terrible punishment for daring to speak against Professor Snape.

Astoria sat in silence during the feast beside Daphne, holding her sister's hand in hers. Besides her sister, Astoria had no one left at school. Her best friend, Johanna, was on the run with her muggleborn mother. Johanna, a bright, bubbly girl in Slytherin as well, was Astoria's only friend. The only person she had ever confided in at Hogwarts, apart from the House Elves Astoria had befriended in her third year. She was notoriously introverted person. Having spoken very little to her classmates in the past four years. Astoria preferred to keep to herself, burying her nose into books and homework, hiding out in the library or kitchens, keeping House Elves as her only company.

Daphne had never been quite as introverted as Astoria. She'd made friends with a group of popular Slytherins, her best friend being pretty and popular Pansy Parkinson, the daughter of a Death Eater. Pansy was haughty and proud of her blood status and that of her friends. She took pity on plain, boring Daphne before, relegating her to the role of side kick. Daphne had never minded before. She didn't crave the spotlight like Pansy did, but now Pansy was a queen. She not only ruled the school, but her 'class' of people ruled the actual world now. As far as she was concerned, she had won. She was dating popular and pureblooded Blaise Zambini and had some strange fling with notorious Death Eater, Draco Malfoy. At least, Pansy called him a notorious Death Eater.

In their dorms, Astoria and Daphne sat alone, closed off inside the curtains. Astoria wrapped herself in her sheets, listening as Cordelia Yaxley and Jenna Sewlyn talking endlessly about their fathers' new positions at the Ministry of Magic. Astoria balled herself up and let the tears roll down her face thinking of Johanna, hiding out somewhere in the forest. Alone. Scared.

"You know the spell," Amycus Carrow whispered into Daphne's ear.

Daphne stood tall, despite feeling his warm breath sliding down her neck. She didn't shiver, she didn't shake. She stared straight ahead at the first year boy shaking in front of her. He was small. Much smaller than she remembered being in first year, maybe even smaller than Astoria had been. Still a child, having only arrived at Hogwarts three weeks earlier. He was a half-blood, according to Professor Carrow, who was in detention for the crime of daring to utter You-Know-Who's name. Had he not been so young, he wouldn't have gotten away with just detention. It would have been Azkaban for this one.

"Crucio," Daphne said calmly, pointing her wand at the child. A steady stream of red light raced towards the boy's body, just missing his heart. The room was bathed in an almost ethereal red glow. If it weren't for the screams, it would be almost beautiful. But the boy did scream. His pain filled the room as Daphne just stared straight ahead, cold, unfeeling. A smirk spread across the face of Amycus Carrow. His thin lips curled around his teeth, baring them like a mad dog. The child screamed under Daphne's spell, but she couldn't stop. He hadn't given her the signal yet.

Just when it looked like the child would pass out, Amycus raised his hand and Daphne lowered her wand. She still stared straight ahead, avoiding the little boy's body still shaking and crying on the dungeon floor.

"Very good Daphne," Amycus drawled. Daphne was reminded of the presumptuous voice of the Ministry official who had come to question her family about the disappearance of their muggleborn neighbour. "See class, you ought to all follow Miss Greengrass's example."

Daphne did not smile at the praise. She still looked straight ahead with those beady, bird-like eyes. In her peripheral vision, she saw Neville Longbottom glower at her. She ignored him though. Daphne ignored everyone staring at her in Defense against the Dark Arts.

"Hey Daph!" Vincent Crabbe called after her when the class was let out. The first years still huddled in the corner, crying and trying to forget about the pain. "Wait up!"

"Bugger off, Crabbe," Daphne growled. She plowed on without waiting for him. Crabbe had never been someone Daphne was fond of, even though he did hang around the outskirts of her group of friends. He had always been rude to Daphne, hurling half-witted insults at her and never treating her as well as he treated pretty Pansy.

"Come on Daph," Crabbe panted as he caught up to her. He grabbed her shoulder, but Daphne roughly pushed him away from her. "Show me how to do that! You're so good at dark arts. Just show me. Please. I can round up some little firsties and we can practice."

"I said fuck off Crabbe!" Daphne snarled in an even harsher tone. "Get away from me before I practice on you. Don't test me."

Crabbe grumbled something under his breath and stalked away from her, shoving aside a fourth year girl as he did. Daphne continued to speed her way through the crowded hallway towards the Slytherin common room. She had no desire at all to help Crabbe torture more first years. Despite what her classmates believed, Daphne didn't get some sort of sick pleasure from it. She'd never be like Crabbe, getting off on the idea of those screaming children, but Daphne did was she had to. She didn't stick her neck out. She didn't take the risk of defiance that people like Neville Longbottom did. Defiance, revolution, resistance, that was for people who actually cared. Daphne Greengrass didn't care. She just needed to get through.

"Miss Greengrass!" Alecto Carrow shouted. "Need I remind you again?"

"Sorry Professor Carrow," Astoria mumbled. Tears began to slide down her cheeks as she stared down at her hands in her lap. Muggle studies class was one of Astoria's worst subjects. She simply could not buy into the terrible prejudice Alecto Carrow tried to indoctrinate into the class. Astoria had never done terrible in a class before, she had always been quite intelligent, but Alecto Carrow just incapacitated her somehow.

The whole class turned to stare at her as Alecto Carrow marched towards the skinny girl and grabbed her by the back of her collar and messy ponytail. Cordelia snickered as she saw the tears staining Astoria's pale cheek. Her hair bunched under Alecto's grasp and her feet barely reached the ground. She grasped for breath.

"Tell me again," she demanded. "What are mudbloods?"

"They're-they're the sc-sc-scum of the earth, Professor," Astoria stammered through her thick, hot tears. Her scalp was burning under Alecto's grasp and she could barely force air down her windpipe. "They're parasites on p-proper w-wizard w-wizarding society. They st-steal magic, Professor Carrow."

"And what must we do to them, Miss Greengrass?"

"We have to- we must…" Astoria stumbled through her speech, unable to say those final hateful words. She had seen the students in her class be strong. She'd heard what happened to people who defied the Carrows, Neville Longbottom in Daphne's year, Ginny Weasley a year above her and Luna Lovegood as well. The Carrows had hurt them more than Astoria could imagine, but still they fought. The tears stung Astoria's eyes as she realized that she could never be that strong.

"What must we do, Astoria?" Alecto shouted, demanding an answer from the shaking girl still in her hard grasp.

"Destroy," she finally spat out. "We must destroy them."

Alecto dropped Astoria to the ground and pushed her aside with her foot as if she were some beaten puppy. Astoria stayed, nestled on the cold floor, rubbing her hand along her burning scalp and wiping away the tears that stained her face. Purple bruises formed on her neck where her collar had cut into her pale, delicate skin.

"Correct, Miss Greengrass," Alecto said sharply. "But detention for your weakness. Never let me see you cry in this class again."

Astoria nodded weakly and pushed herself back onto her chair. No one dared make eye contact with her, but Astoria could see the pity in their eyes anyway. Everyone at Hogwarts knew what happened to those who got detention.


	2. Hurt

Daphne walked into the dungeons at eleven o'clock with Pansy and Blaise chattering away behind her. The couple was disgustingly affectionate and it seemed that their favourite date night activity was 'helping' the Carrows at detention. Daphne's presence had been requested by Professor Alecto Carrow, who had heard from her brother of Daphne's formidable skill in the dark arts. Daphne didn't care for the praise, but she didn't dare defy the Carrows either. So, when Alecto or Amycus Carrow called, Daphne came running.

Detention was always held in one of the darkest and coldest dungeons three levels below the main castle. The floors there seemed perpetually damp, some say, forever stained with the blood of the students punished there. There were rusted chains on the walls that had been in disuse for decades before the Carrows arrived, but now they were almost always filled with some wretched child that had dared to cross their authority. That night, there were four figures huddled in the shadows, with a fifth standing near them. This fifth figure did not slump over in terror over what was going to happen, but stood tall, smiling brightly at the younger students, whispering promises of the pain only being temporary.

Astoria sat, curled into her own body in the corner of the dungeon with her hair sticking to face with sweat and tears. Luna Lovegood stood beside her, almost like a guard. Astoria rocked back and forth, crying softly into her hands. The other students huddled around her were in similar states. They mostly sat in silence, the only sounds being occasional whimpers and sniffles from the terrified students.

"Shhh," Luna said softly. Her blonde hair was almost iridescent in the sliver of moonlight that entered the dungeon through the barred window. She seemed to glow in the dim light, as if she were a personal guardian angel. "It'll be okay. It'll all be over soon."

None of the others said anything, instead, they focused on the deep gash scarring Luna's left cheek, leaving the skin around it raw and blistering. It extended from her left eye down almost to her jawline. A few days old, it seemed, with scabbing flesh and dry redness all around it. Luna didn't seem to notice the cut, though it almost certainly still burned her face. With the cut burning into the other students' memories, her reassuring words were left unheard.

Daphne didn't realize that it was Astoria curled into the corner, as she stood in silence across the room from the huddled mass. She didn't look at any of them, instead keeping her eyes trained on the dungeon doors. Behind her, Pansy flirted with Blaise as Crabbe fruitlessly tried to interject himself into their conversation. He had always fancied Pansy, like all the other boys in Slytherin, and had been bitter ever since she had begun dating the obviously much more handsome Blaise. The pair of them were something of a power couple, the two most attractive people in the school, together at last. Daphne didn't care for their relationship, she hadn't even known about it until they arrived at the train station hand in hand. It made her sick to think that they were so happy together in such a dark time.

They flirted with each other incessantly, always sneaking out together to snog around the castle. The Carrows never cared when they caught them. Pansy and Blaise were always just sent back to bed with a reminder not to sneak out again.

Their voices were all finally silenced when the dungeon door flew open and Professor Carrow in long, billowing robes entered the room. She had an angry scowl on her face and her blonde hair was pulled back in a tight bun. She had a terrifying presence, glaring like a hawk at Luna who had chosen to smile at her as she entered.

"Good evening Professor," Pansy said in her sugary sweet voice. Daphne knew the voice well. It was the one Pansy used when she was sucking up to a teacher.

"Good evening," Alecto said. She flicked her wand and the dungeon brightened a little as the torches lining the walls were lit. Daphne looked over at the five victims of tonight's detention. She looked right past Luna's perpetual smile and glowing hair, staring right at Astoria. The sisters made eye contact across the room, Astoria silently begging her sister to help her, but not daring to say a word. Her big, doe eyes pleaded with her sister to help her, holding the silent hope that there was still a chance to be saved. Astoria had to believe that Daphne would save her; she had never let her down before. Besides, Daphne had promised at the beginning of the year that everything would be okay. Astoria hadn't believed her there, having lived in absolute despair for an entire summer, but she needed hope now. Maybe she didn't need Daphne to actually swoop in and save the day, but Astoria needed her to give her some hope, even it was misplaced.

Daphne broke the stare quickly and looked back to Alecto Carrow. Pansy too noticed the crowd in front of them, looking from Astoria to Daphne with something that was almost horror spreading across her face. Despite her pitfalls, Pansy did care about her best friend's little sister. She knew how much it would destroy Daphne to see Astoria hurting. Pansy had known Astoria since she was a little 9-year-old child and had seen her grow up into such a pretty, young girl. She'd always had a soft spot for her best friend's sister, always doing favours for her and getting her a gift every Christmas to send to the Greengrass house along with Daphne's Christmas gift. She'd seen Daphne's anger when other students teased Astoria for being so shy and odd, making fun of her for being friends with House Elves and liking to knit. Pansy was always the first one to defend Astoria when Daphne wasn't around. It was hard not to have a soft spot for a girl who looked so frail.

"Daphne, why don't you go first," Alecto said. Her voice was raspy and harsh, as if nails were sliding down her throat. Daphne's throat closed up and tightened. She stopped being able to breathe as she feared the worst. She believed that Alecto Carrow was certainly sadistic enough to make Daphne punish her own sister.

"Miss Lovegood," Alecto said instead though and Daphne immediately breathed out again. Luna stepped away from the small group. "She was caught spreading mudblood rhetoric. You know the punishment."

Daphne nodded and stared coldly at the defiant blonde in front of her. Luna's face didn't betray even a hint of fear, despite the fact that she stood there defenseless against the best torturer in the school. She'd been punished many times before and Daphne had been present for some of them, but she hadn't yet turned her wand against Luna. She looked very innocent, with that white blonde hair, but Daphne knew that Luna was among the biggest dissenters in the school, having had a close personal relationship with Harry Potter before he disappeared. She hadn't really been aware of Luna before that year at school. She was the odd girl that occasionally spouted nonsense, but that most people ignored.

Looking at Luna standing there without her wand, Daphne remembered what Professor Lupin had taught her years ago, the first rule of dueling, never hit a defenseless opponent. Daphne ignored that though and raised her wand against Luna.

The red light flooded the room again and Luna doubled over in pain, trying her hardest to suppress her pain. Astoria cried out, begging Daphne to stop for Luna's sake, but she didn't. Tears spilled out of her eyes as she watched Luna fall to the floor, clutching her sides, biting onto her own arm to stop her screams from echoing through the castle. Astoria couldn't help but stare at her older sister, a stranger now, with the wand in her hand hurting a defenseless person. Daphne felt nothing and Astoria didn't even recognize her anymore. When her wand was raised, there was none of the true kindness Astoria knew was in her.

After what seemed like an eternity, Professor Carrow motioned for Daphne to stop. She lowered her wand and stashed it back into her pocket. Luna pushed herself off the floor slowly, blood dripping from her arm where her own teeth had punctured her skin. She panted hard as she stumbled to her feet. Luna grabbed onto the wall and stared right at Professor Carrow, as if challenging her to try again.

"You can't…" Luna breathed out through her clench teeth. "You can't stop me. I'll never stop fighting you."

"You can fight all you want," Professor Carrow said sharply. "You've already lost."

"Don't hurt them," Luna panted out. Her breathing was still jagged and her skin was turning pale. The cut on her cheek had reopened and her robes were slowly turning red with the blood dripping out and down Luna's face, into her mouth. "I can take it."

"Well that wouldn't be fair at all, Miss Lovegood," she continued. "Step aside."

She didn't give Luna a chance to respond though, before Alecto Carrow's wand sliced through the air with surprising speed and knocked Luna unconscious with a jet of white light before anyone had even processed what was going on. Her limp body was dragged to the corner, where Luna lay in a pile of her own blood, her breathing getting shallower and shallower.

Astoria watched, huddled in her corner as the others in front of her screamed from the pain of the cruciatus curse. She covered her eyes and buried her ears in her arms, hopelessly trying to block out the screams that would haunt her nightmares for months to come. They cried out like banshees, desperate for someone to help them, but no one could. Interspersed between the loud cries, was the occasional cackle from Crabbe or Alecto, both of whom seemed to get some terrible sick pleasure out of it. Everyone else in the hall was silent. No one spoke up, except for Professor Carrow to announce the next pairing. Certainly, no one dared to defy her again the way Luna had.

Finally, it was her turn to step up. Astoria pushed herself to her feet weakly and flinched away as Crabbe stood in front of her, grinning ear to ear. He rubbed his thumb against the edge of his wand and shot a sly grin at Daphne, who still stared straight ahead. Pansy stood beside her friend and bit her lip nervously. She tried to rub Daphne's shoulder comfortingly, but Daphne shoved her away.

"Go on," Professor Carrow said, motioning towards Astoria's quivering little body.

Crabbe raised his wand, pointed it right at her and began to speak the incantation slowly in a deep voice, still grinning widely. Before he could even spit out the second syllable of the word though, Crabbe's whole body flung back against the cold, stone walls and he fell to the ground, moaning and letting out a string of curses.

"Stay away from her," Daphne growled stepping away from the shadows and towards Crabbe. The whole room stared at them incredulously, but none of them moved at all. Daphne's wand was raised like a cobra ready to strike again as Crabbed scrambled to his feet, rubbing his shoulder where he'd hit the wall. Astoria had jumped back into the wall when Daphne had attacked and stared wide eyes at her sister.

"I'll do whatever the fuck I want!" Crabbe declared. He hastily reached for his wand and pointed it at Daphne, but she wordlessly ripped it out of his hand with a non-verbal spell and it fell to the floor 10 feet away from him. Daphne stalked towards him, her eyes narrow, lusting for blood.

"Crucio!" she cried. The red light that erupted from her wand was no longer the ethereal bath of light it used to be. This light was a sharp beam intending to pierce, to hurt. This was the kind of curse meant to drive someone insane. It was a violent jet, a powerful stream that pushed Crabbed back into the wall and made him scream louder than any of Daphne's other victims had ever screamed before. He shook with pain through his entire body as Daphne stood strong, pointing the powerful spell right at his heart. Crabbe shook and screamed, sweat streaming down his face as he clutched at his sides and begged for it to stop. Astoria herself shook with a strange sense of relief and terror. Relief that it wasn't her on the receiving end of such a spell, but terror at the sight of her sister doing such a thing, even if it was to protect her. Before that year, she wouldn't have believed that the loving sister who had always taken care of her was capable of such a thing. Daphne had always been a little cold, but she'd never been cruel before.

Finally, Daphne stopped the spell and the whole room stared at Crabbe, shaking and panting on the floor. He stood up slowly and clutched the wall. Cuts and bruises appeared all over his body from his violent shaking on the floor.

"That's… that's it Daphne," he spat out. "I'll fucking kill you… I'll, I'll get her too. You're stupid bitch of a sister… lucky she's prettier than your ugly mug… maybe I'll…"

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" Daphne screamed. Her wand cut through the air like a sword searching for its target. She was prepared to kill him right there on Hogwarts grounds and there was no doubt in anyone's mind that if Daphne Greengrass wanted to kill, she would. The green light whizzed right past Crabbe though and blasted a whole through the wall just inches from his head. Daphne Greengrass never missed a mark.

When the panic had dissolved and the dust settled, the crowd saw why Daphne had missed. There was Alecto Carrow, her hand grasped firmly around Daphne's wrist, directing her aim to the left, instead of dead centre at her target. Had Professor Carrow not intervened though, there would be a dead body in that dungeon. Crabbe stared, mouth agape at his would-be murderer. The entire room was silent, staring at the stunned expression on Daphne's face.

"Expelliarmus," Professor Carrow said, pointing her wand at Daphne. The wand flew out of her hand and onto the floor with an echo. Daphne stared silently at the professor. There was no shame in her eyes.

"You nearly killed a student at Hogwarts," Professor Carrow said matter-of-factly. "You used the strongest cruciatus curse I've seen from anyone, besides Bellatrix Lestrange. There's no doubt that your killing curse would have worked too."

"I'd do it again," Daphne finally spat out. She twisted her hand away from Professor Carrow and back up towards the corner where Astoria hid. Her sister was still huddled there, glancing maddeningly between Crabbe, Daphne, and Professor Carrow. She nearly flinched with Daphne stepped towards her, afraid of her sister's own ruthlessness and strength.

"That girl is your sister, isn't she?"

Daphne didn't respond, she just barred her teeth at the professor in front of her and took another step back, shielding Astoria from Professor Carrow's view.

"I won't hurt her," Professor Carrow said. She dropped her wand into the cloak and reached down for Daphne's wand. She held it out to her, only a foot was between the two women. "You will."

Daphne made an almost guttural growl noise as she stood firm in front of Astoria's shaking body.

"Have it your way then," Professor Carrow shrugged. She turned wand on owner and shot a sharp jet of red light at Daphne's heart, making her fall on the ground, screaming in pain. She sounded like a wounded animal, crying like some sort of mangy beast.

"Stop it!" Astoria cried. She jumped up and stared, unable to do anything for Daphne. For the first time, Astoria looked right into Professor Carrow's eyes and pleaded wordlessly with that doll-like stare. Alecto Carrow was impervious to her puppy dog eyes that usually worked so well on everyone else. "Please! She hasn't done anything wrong! Please, you're meant to punish me!"

Professor Carrow lowered her wand again and crouched down next to Daphne on the floor. Astoria dropped to her knees and grabbed her sister's shaking hand, but Daphne shook her off and pushed herself up alone, glaring at Professor Carrow. The two women stared at each other in silence, each daring the other to speak first, defiance, for the very first time, lighting up Daphne's small black eyes.

"You're a powerful witch, Miss Greengrass," Professor Carrow finally said. "A shame to waste that potential. You would do well as one of us."

"I'll never be one of you," Daphne spat, shoving the professor aside roughly. Professor Carrow did not seem angry at this, but rather bemused.

"Tut tut," Professor Carrow reprimanded her as she stood up again, wiping the dust of her pristine black robe. "All that power gone to waste. Think over my offer Daphne."

"I'll join you when hell freezes over!" she screamed maniacally, still sitting on the floor.

"You're all free to go," Professor Carrow said, waving her hand at the terrified spectators around her. Pansy gave one last glance at her friend, but terrified of Daphne's power and Professor Carrow's quiet anger, left trembling with Blaise in hand. She ignored Crabbe's yell for her to wait for him.

"Except for you two," Professor Carrow pointed at Astoria and Daphne, still on the floor, backed into the dungeon corner.

Astoria froze in her place and looked up in fear at Professor Carrow, brandishing Daphne's wand and smiling with no happiness. She rubbed her pale fingers across Daphne's shiny wand and sneered.

"You ought to think about my offer, Daphne," she said again quietly. Professor Carrow raised the wand again. Daphne's screams once again filling the castle as Astoria's cries threatened to drown them out.


	3. Change

"Wake up, Daphne!" Astoria cried hopelessly. She shook her sister's body on the cold floor, begging her to wake up or just give her some signal. Alecto Carrow had just left, leaving Astoria alone with Daphne's unconscious body and Luna Lovegood, forgotten and still bleeding in the corner. Tears blurred Astoria's vision, but she finally scrambled up and grabbed Daphne's wand, now lying on the floor beside her.

She couldn't do anything for Daphne, who had passed out from the pain, but she ran over to Luna, wiping the tears from her eyes as she went. She crouched down beside the girl who she'd never spoken to before and looked at the wounds covering her body. There were bruises and cuts all across her, leaving Luna looking mangled and broken. Seeing the cuts all across her pale skin with her hair matted down by her own blood, Astoria was reminded of a broken china doll. Luna seemed so fragile, as if she were already irreparably broken.

"Episkey," Astoria spoke the incantation easily, fixing the puncture marks Luna's own teeth had left on her arms. The wounds closed cleanly and Astoria siphoned the blood off her clothes and hair, but the angry cut on her face was still pulsating. She tried the spell again on Luna's cheek and the wound closed a little, stopping the terrifying bleeding, but it was one tainted with dark magic that Astoria couldn't fix.

"Renneverate," she said. Luna's eyes fluttered open and she pushed herself up, rubbing her hand across her back of her head where she'd fallen. Astoria stayed crouched beside, ready to help her up if she needed.

"Thank you, Astoria," she said in a soft voice, as if still dazed from having hit her head. Luna's blue eyes sparkled in the still burning torch light. None of the pain that should have been there was. "Is that your sister?"

Astoria nodded and bit her lip realizing that Daphne was the one who had gotten Luna into that state. She wondered how Luna would react, seeing that Daphne had been punished as well. Would she be glad? Would she see it as justice?

"Is she alright?" Luna asked, no hint of resentment in her voice at all. "What happened?"

"It's a long story," Astoria said nervously. "But basically, Professor Carrow got to her."

"Well, we must take her to the hospital wing then," Luna declared. She crouched down beside Daphne and wiped the beads of sweat off her forehead with her robes. Astoria stared in awe as Luna tended so gently to the girl who had tortured her so easily.

Wordlessly, Luna stood up again and took the wand from Astoria's hand. She conjured a stretcher easily and rolled Daphne onto it, making it hover alongside the girls as they climbed the stairs up to the third floor hospital wing.

"She passed out from the pain, didn't she?" Luna asked as they walked along.

Astoria nodded, keeping her eyes on her feet and holding onto Daphne's hand, dangling off the edge of the stretcher.

"Did she try to protect you?"

"Yes," Astoria whispered.

"Your sister is a good person," Luna said softly.

"She did this to you."

"Oh no, the Carrows did this to me and they did that to Daphne," Luna waved her hand, dismissing Astoria's thought. "They did this to us, all of us."

Astoria nodded silently. It wasn't Daphne. It wasn't even Crabbe's fault. It was the Carrows and this whole regime led by the Dark Lord that was at fault here. It was their fault that Daphne was hurting so much, their fault that Johanna was gone, and their fault that Dumbledore and so, so many others were dead. All this suffering, all this pain, it was because of him – the Dark Lord.

Still, Astoria wondered. She still didn't understand how Luna could be so brave and forgiving towards someone who had hurt her so much. She had been through hell in the short weeks they'd been at school. Her body was more scars than skin already. She was fighting a losing battle, but still, every single day, she fought it. Astoria admired that about her, but she knew that she could never be so brave. She knew that no matter how much she cared, no matter how much she believed, she could not go through that pain. But Luna could. Luna could and so many others could. They could be brave and selfless and caring and strong, but Astoria couldn't. Even Daphne, who certainly didn't seem to be on the side of good here, could be selfless and brave.

"Madame Pomfrey?" Luna called as they entered the hospital wing. The matron came running out of her office as she caught sight of Daphne on the stretcher. Her lips were pursued. She had the expression of someone who had seen too much suffering.

"The Carrows?" she asked sorrowfully.

"The cruciatus curse," Luna nodded.

"Bring her in with the others," Madame Pomfrey sighed, motioning towards her nearly full hospital wing of children craving the affection only she could give in the school. Some of them had nightmares from their time with the Carrows, others had deep cuts and gashes from their punishments. Everyone there had the same look of despair in their eyes.

Luna and Madame Pomfrey slid Daphne onto one of the hospital cots and the matron began mixing potions on the little table of hers. She fussed about, nervously knocking over bottles as she went, her hands shaking as she slowly broke down from the constant weariness, depression, pain, and exhaustion.

"Here," Luna said, taking the bottle from her and uncorking it. She handed it back and Madame Pomfrey poured the blue liquid into something purple. Smoke erupted from the small vial.

"I'm sorry," Madame Pomfrey said, tears beginning to sting her eyes. "I've just seen too many children here. Let me give you something for that cheek."

Astoria watched wordlessly as Luna and Madame Pomfrey went around the hospital wing, tending not just to Daphne, but to other students Astoria recognized from the detention room. Madame Pomfrey gave out calming potions and healed wounds and gave sleeping draughts to lessen nightmares. She busied herself, but every once in a while, Astoria saw her knees buckle as another student screamed from a nightmare or began to cry. The Hogwarts hospital wing had never been such a somber place before.

Suddenly, Daphne shot up in the cot, her whole body drenched in sweat. She shook and panted heavily, her body erupting in cold sweats. She looked around her madly and clutched her throat. Her eyes finally met with Astoria's startled and worried expression. Daphne began to breath slowly again, but Madame Pomfrey was already on her way to another bedside.

"Tori?" Daphne said softly, the panic in her eyes slowly fading away. "I'm sorry."

"For what?" Astoria choked out, holding back her tears. She grabbed Daphne's hand tightly, burying her face into her sister's side. "I'm sorry, Daph. If I hadn't gotten detention, you wouldn't be here. I'm sorry. It was stupid, I cried in class and I just-"

"Shh," Daphne cooed, petting the top of Astoria's head. "Don't apologize. This is the Carrows' doing."

"Daphne?" Madame Pomfrey said kindly, popping over when she heard Daphne's voice. "Did you have a nightmare?"

Daphne nodded and bit her lip. Her mind flashed back to the dream she'd had. She was in that dungeon again, but instead of her own torture, she had to watch them hurt Astoria. She had to watch them kill Astoria and nothing pained Daphne more than watching her fragile sister suffer. She never wanted to see Astoria cry or see her in pain. She was too good and fragile and sweet for this accursed world, but Daphne had always sworn to protect her. Nothing hurt her more than failing to do that. She woke up to find Astoria safe, but still, suffering. Despite her own cries of pain during the cruciatus curse, nothing hurt more than hearing Astoria cry out, trying helplessly to save her.

"I'm going to give you a sleeping draught, alright?" Madame Pomfrey asked. "You'll sleep dreamlessly. It will all be alright, Daphne."

Daphne nodded weakly as she drained the small vial and settled back into her pillow. She squeezed Astoria's hand one last time before she finally drifted off into a deep, empty sleep.

"Miss Greengrass," Professor Carrow called. She walked towards Astoria's seat at the middle of the classroom, her heels clicking across the stone floors, and looked down her nose at the small girl. Her billowing robes flowed around her ankles, tickling the legs of those near her.

Astoria stared straight ahead, not making eye contact with anyone. She sat tall in her seat. Her face betrayed no emotion. Those doll-like eyes that used to make Astoria the open book she was had turned opaque, no one could see into Astoria's head.

"Yes, Professor Carrow?" she said stiffly, straightening her back. She smoothed down her robes in her lap and ran her tongue across her lips quickly.

Alecto Carrow pursed her lips at Astoria, waiting for the girl to start shaking nervously like she usually did. But this time, Astoria didn't give in. She stared straight ahead, unfeeling, uncaring, strong. She had spent the night sitting beside Daphne's hospital bed and she had sworn that she would never again be as weak as she had been in Alecto Carrow's room ever again. Astoria realized that night that there were two ways to be strong here. She could fight for what was right, the way Luna did, the way countless others did. But she would be punished for that. She would be severely hurt for dissent and seeing the way Daphne was hurt by seeing them punish her, Astoria couldn't do that to her sister. So, she chose another method of the strength. The method that Daphne had adopted – keep your head down, obey, and stay out of trouble. It killed Astoria to give repeat the rhetoric that the new regime spouted, but she'd do what she had to in order to keep herself, and more importantly, her family out of harm's way.

"Where do muggles belong?" Professor Carrow raised her eyebrow sharply, glaring at Astoria with those hawk eyes. The whole class turned towards her and stared, waiting for her to cry like she had done so many times before. They waited for her to breakdown again, but Astoria wouldn't give them the satisfaction this time.

Astoria avoided them all, staring straight ahead at the blank chalkboard. She cleared her throat and spoke in an unflinching voice. "They belong underfoot. They belong in the dirt."

Daphne left the hospital wing two days after she was first brought there. Astoria had told her how Luna had brought her up and taken care of her, but Daphne couldn't bring herself to face the girl she'd tortured so much. She avoided everyone as she rushed from the hospital wing back to the Slytherin commons. Her eyes stayed trained on the ground, but as luck would have it, Daphne plowed straight into Professor Amycus Carrow.

"Hello Miss Greengrass," he said coolly. He brushed off his black robes where Daphne has bumped into him and straightened up, staring at Daphne with his piercing eyes and a sly grin.

Daphne breathed deeply and looked up back into his eyes. Her face remained stoic, hiding all traces of the pain she'd just endured at the hands of his sister. She lifted his chin up in a haughty manner, as if daring him to hurt her again.

"I'm told Professor Carrow made you an offer," he said simply, cocking an eyebrow. His face had the appearance of a troll, oversized where it should not have been and just oddly proportioned.

"And I turned her down," Daphne shot back quickly. She turned away from Amycus Carrow and walked quickly away, but he followed after her with surprising speed. His hand grasped around her bony shoulder, pulling her back harshly and nearly pulling her arm out of its socket.

"You may want to rethink that," he gave her a strange expression that Daphne could not read. She wouldn't allow herself to further down the path of moral destitution though. She already hated herself for the reputation she'd gained as notorious torturer, but she wouldn't allow 'Death Eater' to be on top. Daphne still wanted to keep some remnants of her moral compass.

"I'll never," Daphne spat out. "If you'll excuse me, professor."

With that, she sped down the corridor, without Professor Carrow following her. As she ran, Daphne's body shook, just the slightest bit. She hated to admit it, but Daphne was afraid. She didn't feel as strong as she wanted to, as she needed to. She was afraid of what they could do to her, of what they could do to her family, but she couldn't, she just couldn't give in. She wouldn't allow herself to, if not for her own peace of mind, but for Astoria's. Her little sister couldn't be associated with a murderer.

Back in her own room, Daphne drew the curtains on her twin bed and shut herself in the darkness. She wanted to scream, she wanted to cry. Tears strung her eyes in a way they hadn't for years. Her fists slammed against her pillows, making the whole bed shake. Daphne cried out in frustration, furious that the Carrows could get to her in that way. She hadn't allow herself to break down like this before, but the pain of the last few months had shaken Daphne. It was crushed her piece by piece until she could no longer hold herself together.

"Daphne?" a timid voice asked. A carefully manicured hand pulled the curtain open, letting sunlight stream into Daphne's dark, little cave. In the meager light, Daphne could make out Pansy's tanned face and anxious eyes. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine, Pansy," she sighed. Pansy was the last person Daphne wanted to see. The girls had once been best friends, but Pansy wasn't like Daphne. She wanted supremacy, she wanted to win, she was proud, haughty. She had nothing to lose in this regime, only to gain. Even before it had all changed, Pansy was like that. She got what she wanted. She took everything she could from Daphne and relegated her to the role of the popular girl's ugly side kick. It was a role that Daphne had never resented before, after all, there were times when Daphne truly did enjoy Pansy's company and really did consider the girl her closest friend, but she could no longer be a part of Pansy's world now, no matter how much she still seemed to care.

"I'm sorry," she breathed out quickly. Pansy sat down on the bed beside Daphne and bit her lip, an expression of true worry and anguish on her sculpted face. "Professor Carrow didn't allow us to go back for you. Are you and Astoria okay?"

"It's fine," Daphne muttered through barred teeth. "She didn't do anything to Astoria."

"Daphne," Pansy proceeded cautiously. "You ought to take Professor Carrow's offer. Being a Death Eater would keep you safe, and Astoria. You'd both be safe."

"I can't," Daphne snapped. "I won't do that. I know you don't get it, but I can't do that."

"Can't? You won't because you've got some moral opposition, I get it, fine. But this is reality, Daphne," Pansy said haughtily. She tried to care, she wanted to care about Daphne and Astoria, but this was the only way she knew how. "This is the world now. This is the new world and you've got to do what you can to survive. I'm set. My family's set. What about yours?"

"We'll be fine," Daphne glared at her friend. "Worry about yourself, Pansy."

"I can't help you anymore than this, Daphne," she stood up and shot daggers in Daphne's direction. Pansy crossed her arms tightly, highlighting the pretty figure she had. "People like us, we don't fight the noble battle of whatever it is you think you're doing. People like us win."


	4. Enlist

_Daphne Greengrass,_

 _Your presence is requested in the headmaster's office at 2 o'clock today._

 _Professor Alecto Carrow_

Daphne crumpled the letter in her fist and shoved it into her book bag. The Carrows had not relented in their pursuit of her yet and Daphne was sure that his request was just another one of their attempts. She'd refused every time and had not even thought about agreeing, but Daphne was infuriated with their constant ploys.

She knew what the people at school thought of her. Daphne knew what they whispered as she walked past them in corridors, avoiding eye contact and skittering past quickly. Her talent for the Dark Arts, her blood status, the people she was friends with, the very house she was in. Of course Daphne already had that reputation, but she wouldn't allow all their assumptions to come true. She was better than that. She had to be.

Astoria leaned over and peered at the crumpled letter sitting in her sister's bag. She raised an eyebrow as if to ask about it, but Daphne shook her head almost imperceptibly. Astoria slunk back into her own seat and finished her breakfast alone as Daphne packed up and left the Great Hall quickly. Astoria stared at her dull oatmeal and poked at it with her spoon.

Before long, she'd left the empty, depressing Great Hall. It was less than half full, but Hogwarts was just always like that now. None of the muggleborns were admitted back to the school and even more students had gone on the run with muggleborn or rebel parents. Astoria didn't like how empty the corridors and classrooms were now. She didn't like living her life in silence even though she'd spent so much of the past few years alone.

Her footsteps echoed down the empty corridor on her way to Professor Flitwick's office. It was where she'd been spending her spare time now. Not in the library or in her dormitory where she had to listen to Cordelia Yaxley and Jenna Sewlyn, but in the tiny professor's office. Professor Flitwick had always had a soft spot for Astoria, always calling the shy, but talented student one of his favourites, though he always maintained in class that he didn't chose favourites in class. Astoria enjoyed being with him. He taught her things beyond her grade level, things that were interesting, more suited to her skill level. It was a good way for Astoria to forget everything else going wrong in her life.

"Hello Astoria," Professor Flitwick greeted her when she arrived at his office. It was a small room, but cozy, with bright candles flickering in the corners and a warm fire heating it up. In this one little room, it was almost like the old Hogwarts was still alive.

"Hello Professor," Astoria said kindly. "How are you today?"

"Lovely," Professor Flitwick said. He rubbed his tiny hands together and excitedly. "I have a fun spell to teach you today, dear."

"What is it?" Astoria asked excitedly. She sat down on a little chair across the Professor's large desk. She sat with her hands underneath her legs, swinging her feet below her.

"Avis," Professor Flitwick chirped. He waved his hand in a circular motion and a tiny flock of jewel coloured birds appeared out of thin air, twirling around his head, singing sweetly. Astoria laughed in delight, reaching her hand out to touch one of the conjured birds.

A bright pink one landed on her little finger and began singing a sweet tune. Astoria petted the bird's soft head, allowing the other birds to perch on her shoulders and arms. They tickled her bare skin, dancing gracefully across her.

"How?" Astoria asked with a glimmer in her eyes.

An hour later, the office was full with an entire flock of jewel coloured birds flying around, swooping up and down following the movements of Astoria's wand. The birds sung sweet tunes, each complementing the other and intermingling with Astoria's sweet laugh. Professor Flitwick smiled at her kindly, adding his own flock to hers. Theirs was the only laughter and smiles in the school.

At 2 o'clock, Daphne made her way to the headmaster's office. She did not want to go and she knew what this meeting would be about, but still, she didn't dare disobey a direct order from the Carrows. The spiral staircase opened up when she arrived and Daphne slowly made her way up the winding stone steps. She'd never been to the headmaster's office before, but she didn't care too much for this visit still.

At the top of the stairs, Professor Snape waited for her, staring at her, tight lipped. He wore all black as usual and had his hair slicked back. Daphne looked at him, waiting for him to speak or say something, but instead, he just gestured towards the door and Daphne quickly turned the gold-adorned handle. She turned back to wait for him to enter first, but he shook his head and she proceeded alone. The door closed behind her with a loud thud.

The office was mostly dark, with light coming only from the fading embers in the fireplace. In the dim light, Daphne could make out little in the office. There was a shelf in the corner, some portraits on the wall and a large ornate desk. There was someone sitting in the dark office in the chair where the headmaster should have been. The Professors Carrow stood on either side of this auspicious figure, their hands clasped in front of them.

"Are you going to ask again?" Daphne sighed. As she stepped forward though, lights turned on all around her and she stared confused at the person in the chair. She was a middle aged woman, about the same age as her mother, with wild black hair and deep, sullen eyes. Her clothing was proper, but all black in the way a proper lady's shouldn't be unless in mourning. Her skin was pale and veiny across her thin neck, with a silver chain dangling around it.

"I've heard a great deal about you," the woman hissed. Her tongue slid across her lips as she rested her elbows on the desk, showing off her bent wand in her white, bony fingers. Daphne thought she looked a bit like an inferi.

"Who are you?" Daphne asked, not taking any more steps towards the strange woman.

The woman stood and sauntered around the desk towards Daphne. She walked in a theatrical manner, moving her hips and swishing the fabric of her heavy long skirt. Her movements were large and exaggerated, almost insane looking. Daphne flinched back as she approached.

"Bellatrix Lestrange," she said softly, holding out her thin hand to shake Daphne's. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"I've heard of you," Daphne said, suddenly freezing in her tracks. She knew she'd seen this woman's face before. She'd seen it plastered across the Daily Prophet and on wanted posters across the nation with large warnings printed underneath the stay away and alert the authorities immediately if she was seen. Bellatrix Lestrange, You-Know-Who's right hand woman, his most loyal follower, his most powerful in command.

"And I've heard of you," Bellatrix said airily. She stepped closer to Daphne and stroked the curve of her chin with her coarse fingers. Daphne shuddered and instinctively took a step back. Gooseflesh covered her exposed arms.

Bellatrix grinned just the slightest bit as she fiddled with her strange shaped wand. Daphne's eyes followed it down, wondering what she was doing. Before Daphne could even register it happening though, Bellatrix pointed her wand underhanded at Daphne's torso. In a flash, Daphne was flung back into the wall, against what felt like a portrait, and fell onto the floor. She stared incredulously at Bellatrix who laughed maniacally and danced around the room.

"Fight back!" she bellowed, her scream echoing across the office.

Daphne hastily got onto her feet again and raised her wand, only to receive another blow from Bellatrix. She was slammed into the wall again, but this time, Daphne landed on her feet and shot back a jinx at her opponent, causing the older woman to collapse to her feet.

Bellatrix didn't feel any pain though, she just laughed and shot more spells, narrowly missing her mark as Daphne ran around the office, weaving through the furniture and the Carrows, who just stood there passively watching the destruction going on.

"You know the spell!" Bellatrix shouted wielding her wand at the younger girl furiously. "The one they all know you for! The one they all talk about! You know which one!"

Daphne barred her teeth and shot at Bellatrix again. She smashed into the wall, a distinctive crack was heard. That didn't slow the notorious Bellatrix Lestrange though. Her left arm hanging limp and unmoving, Bellatrix stood up again, panting slightly from the duel. She pulled her wand up again and pointed it straight at Daphne, hitting her right in the heart with a beam of red.

"YOU KNOW THE SPELL!" she screamed like a banshee. Daphne fell to her knees and screamed louder than she had ever before, unable to handle the pain searing through her body. This cruciatus curse was unlike the one Alecto Carrow had used against her. It reverberated through Daphne's entire body, making every joint, every nerve ending feel as if it were on fire. Slowly burning her from the inside out. It was all over in a split second though. Panting, Daphne stood up slowly and stared at Bellatrix her dark eyes gleaming with the remembrance of the pain still. Bellatrix only grinned, barring her yellowed teeth and blackened gums. Daphne raised her own wand, still shaking from the cruciatus curse.

"Cr- Crucio," Daphne spat out through her ragged breathing. The red light seemed to move in slow motion towards Bellatrix. She seemed to see the spell coming, but made effort to avoid its searing blow. A sly smile spread across Bellatrix's face as she opened herself to the curse.

The light hit her dead centre and Bellatrix immediately fell to her knees, head pulled back. She emitted some noise, a mixture of howling, screaming, and maniacal laughter. Daphne was so shocked by her reaction to the spell and almost immediately broke it again. Disturbed and horrified by Bellatrix's seemingly sadistic enjoyment of it. Daphne pulled her arm back, breaking the spell, and retreated into a corner of the office, not taking her eyes of Bellatrix as she stood and sauntered towards her.

"Now that… was a curse," Bellatrix said between deep breaths. She was across her office from Daphne, but slowly making her way over in zigzagged, almost intoxicated steps. "Alecto wasn't lying about your power."

"What do you want from me?" Daphne panicked, raising her wand again, trying to stop Bellatrix from getting any closer to her.

"You know what I want," Bellatrix snarled, rushing towards Daphne and pinning her against the wall her with arm. The black sleeve rode up her arm and showed just the bottom bit of the black mark that slithered across her pale skin. Daphne shuddered as she saw the tip of that evil snake.

"I won't," Daphne protested, sputtering against Bellatrix's arm. "I won't be like you!"

"Darling child," Bellatrix cooed, stepping away from Daphne. She waved her wand gently and produced a white cloud floating next to her head about the size of a quaffle. Daphne stood transfixed as a scene began to play out in the translucent cloud. She saw herself, in that dungeon again as she screamed and Astoria cried, trying to make Alecto stop. Daphne shivered and looked in shock at Bellatrix.

The scene changed and showed something that Daphne hadn't seen before. It was Astoria in class. Her hair was worn the same as it was when she'd seen her sister than morning, in one long braid down her back. Astoria sat in charms class, taking notes diligently. Daphne almost smiled, charms was her sister's best subject.

"Your sister is quite beautiful, isn't she?" Bellatrix asked, her eyes narrowing with some kind of ploy.

"What are you going to do to Astoria?" Daphne panicked. She swiped at the cloud, making it disappear into the air.

"Nothing," Bellatrix said with an air of innocence. "Nothing at all if you help me."

"If I help you, you'll leave her alone? You won't touch her?" Daphne asked, trembling slightly. She stared at Bellatrix with her eyes wide open, looking for some reason to trust this woman's word.

"No one ever will," Bellatrix nodded. "You have my word."

"Have you seen Daphne?" Astoria asked Pansy two days later. The older girl was sprawled across her bed with a book open in her lap. Pansy looked up with she heard the timid voice from the end of her room.

She looked to Astoria with pity. She knew where Daphne was. She knew that Daphne was deep somewhere in the depths of England, training with Bellatrix Lestrange and proving her loyalty. Pansy remembered what Draco had told her about the pain it took to become one of them, about how the pain nearly destroyed him and how difficult it was to prove that unwavering loyalty. Pansy and Daphne had both heard Draco's stories that year, pitying their friend, but secretly grateful that it hadn't been them going through that.

Now, it was Daphne, but Pansy couldn't tell Astoria that. Daphne hadn't known how Pansy had figured it out, but she made her one time friend promise not to tell anyone. Though Pansy didn't have the same affection for Daphne she once had, she still cared about her. She cared even more about her fragile sister. One couldn't help but care about Astoria, after all.

"I haven't seen her," Pansy said quickly. She turned back to her book, dismissing Astoria. She bit her lip as she climbed back down the stairs to the common room bathed in green light. It had been two days since she'd seen Daphne. Astoria wasn't sure if her sister was simply avoiding her at school or if she had left the premise entirely. She was inclined to believe the latter, since Daphne couldn't possibly avoid her in the small Slytherin quarters for that long.

She couldn't even begin to guess where Daphne had gone. None of her professors seemed worried in the slightest that Daphne was gone, alas, the only answer she got was from Professor Flitwick who had told her not to worry with a pitying glance. Even as Astoria begged him to tell her what he knew, Professor Flitwick had refused her. She hadn't visited him since he refused to tell her two days ago, so instead of learning charms, Astoria spent her free time alone, wandering the castle alone, studying in silence, and waiting.

On her third eve alone, a figure appeared in the dark doorway of Astoria's dormitory long after curfew had arrived. The other girls had long fallen asleep, but Astoria was still up, reading a book in the pale moonlight on the window's edge. She looked up when the looming figure appeared, recognizing the shape of the shadow.

"Daphne?" she whispered across the room. Astoria put her book down, marking the corner with a fold.

The heels of her shoes clicked across the hardwood floors as Daphne made her way over to Astoria's windowsill. She sat down next to her little sister, drawing the curtains and plunging them into darkness as she did. Astoria blinked, trying to adjust and make out her sister's face, but she could still only see shadows.

"Hello," Daphne said finally.

"Where have you been?" Astoria cried. "I've been looking for you for days!"

"I'm sorry," she said, her head hanging low. Daphne spoke in a low growl, as if there was something stuck in her throat. "I've been busy. I had to leave for a while."

"Did you tell the professors? None of them were worried!"

"Shh," Daphne shook her head. She rubbed her hand across Astoria's thin shoulder. "Just don't worry about anything, okay? Keep your head down and stay out of trouble. Everything's fine, I swear."

"What do you mean 'everything's fine'? You can't just disappear for three days and then not give me an explanation!"

"Please Tori," Daphne pleaded. "I'll tell you soon, just not right now, okay? Get some rest. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Daphne!" Astoria hissed running after her sister as she left the room and began climbing down the stairs. Daphne didn't turn though and when Astoria grabbed her shoulder, she shoved her back violently, nearly slamming her into a wall.

"Please, just go," she begged, still turning her head away from Astoria in the dim corridor light.

"Tell me what's going on," Astoria demanded. She grabbed her sister's hand and froze, refusing to leave until she got an explanation. "Look at me Daphne!"

"Just go," Daphne finally replied, pulling her hand away and running down out of the Slytherin dungeons without a glance back at her sister.


	5. Escape

"They've been hiding out at this safe house, smuggling mudbloods across to France," Mulciber explained in the shadows of the forest. Daphne shivered under her thin cloak and stared at the plans the older man had laid out on the forest floor.

"Have we got a way in?" Dolohov asked. "It must be fortified."

"I've got an entry point," Mulciber replied. "So there are four adults, two children in there. I want them all either dead or at the Ministry gates by the end of all this."

Daphne nodded with the rest of the team and silently followed Mulciber through the forest, approaching the invisible house. She had felt her mark burn just three hours earlier, the second time that week. She had apparated to that spot in the forest and met up with Mulciber, Dolohov, and Rodolphus Lestrange. Two of them she'd known before the war started, as Mr. Mulciber and Mr. Dolohov – friends and coworkers of her mother and father who sometimes visited their house. Before all this, these Death Eater were just friends of her parents.

Now, she was an equal among them, but she had earned that spot for the month of work she'd devoted to the Dark Lord. Daphne was known as Bellatrix's young protégée among this group, learning the art of torture from none other than the best. Some of the Death Eaters already feared her, though not as much as they feared her mentor. Even Rodolphus was afraid of his wife.

Bellatrix truly was fearsome and Daphne had resigned to copy her every mood, if only it meant that she'd be safe from reproach and her family would be safe from Bellatrix's madness. She'd earned respect from all the other Death Eaters with the formidable skill she showed. At any rate, they liked her as their new rookie much more than they'd ever liked Draco Malfoy. In her time as one of them, Daphne hadn't seen her old friend yet, but she wasn't sure if she even wanted to. Daphne didn't know how she'd respond to seeing Draco again – anger, pity, fear?

Daphne tried to silence her thoughts as she trekked through the dark forest with the three men. After ten minutes, Mulciber held his hand out and stopped the group in their tracks. Daphne stared at the empty meadow in front of them, her wand raised, ready to fight her way into the invisible house.

She listened as Mulciber muttered a string of incomprehensible words, casting a bright aura around the empty meadow. Slowly, a house came into view and shouts and screams could be heard from within in it. The occupants were preparing for battle.

When the small cottage in front of them was fully in view, the team was on the move. They barged in, firing spells at every person in there, ignoring the cries of the young child from the floor above. Daphne had learned how to be passive in these situations. She'd learned how to save her own hide and how to drown out anything else. She didn't hear the screams. She didn't hear the cries or the yelling. She had tunnel vision for whoever she was targeting. This was the only way she could get through those jobs. If she could hear the cries for help coming from the child upstairs, this would be over for her.

Daphne found herself duelling a raven haired woman, guarding the staircase leading to the children hiding upstairs. The woman was a strong duellist, firing a spell at Daphne that pushed her 10 feet back, slamming her into the wall and nearly through the dry wood, but Daphne didn't stand down. She came back strong, dodging the woman's stunning spell and firing her own, much deadlier curse at her feet.

"You won't get to them!" the woman snarled as she jumped up, just missing Daphne's curse. "You'll have to kill me!"

Daphne said nothing, but kept shooting curses relentlessly at the black-haired woman, tuning out every heroic line the woman spit out. She stared intently at the woman, trying not to lose herself in the blue eyes that sparkled with some mad passion, desperate to protect the children upstairs.

"You wear that mask because you're a coward!" she cried. As Daphne got closer, the woman ripped at the mask covering her face, just missing, but managing to land a curse on Daphne's arm, causing her to erupt with hot, sticky blood. Daphne clutched at her bleeding arm and weakly shot the cruciatus curse, but again, missed narrowly as her arm continued to burn with pain.

"Take off that mask!" the woman cried again, flailing her limbs when her spells kept missing their mark. She had gone truly mad in a desire to beat Daphne. She was in this fight to the death, but she was getting weary.

The black haired woman kicked Daphne hard finally pushing her away and making the Death Eater signature mask disappear. She was momentarily shocked by her assailant's youth, but was not long distracted.

"You're just a child!" she cried. "But you've already gone this far down. I won't let you hurt him!"

Daphne, panicking with the blood loss in her right arm and the dizziness that was settling onto her, bit her lip hard, trying for one last move before she'd lose consciousness from the blood loss and exertion. She raised her wand again, dodging another curse fired at her head. She ran towards the woman, leaving a trail of blood all around her and pinned her down below her, gagging her with her bleeding arm. The woman choked on Daphne's thick blood, sputtering as she fought back fruitlessly.

"I don't want to do this," Daphne whispered with pain settling into her eyes. She focused on her surroundings and finally heard the cry of the child upstairs. Daphne bit her lip, trying to think of a way to avoid the inevitable, but found none. So, she finally raised her wand. "I'm so sorry," Daphne said, almost in a dry sob. "Avada kedavra."

And the woman was finally silent. Her eyes were pinned open with the last look of determination and fear still etched across her face and her mouth still full of blood, but finally stopped spluttering. Daphne stood and the woman's dead body fell down the staircase, landing with a thud among the rubble at the bottom. Daphne looked back at her, bottom lip quivering. The raven haired, blue eyed woman was the first person she'd ever killed in combat. There had been people, so many of them, during those three days and nights with Bellatrix Lestrange, but none as alive, as real, as this woman fighting back for her life. Daphne was the person to know what she looked like in her last moments, and she didn't even know the black haired woman's name.

Daphne marched on nevertheless. She had a mission to complete and a punishment to face if she failed and Daphne didn't want to think about the Dark Lord's punishments. She ran up the rest of the stairs and burst into the room where the cries were coming from. Inside huddled in the corner, a teenage girl rocked a young toddler in her arms. She grabbed her wand and retreated back into the corner with the baby still in her arms when the door flung open. She brandished it in front of her, shaking, while still trying to calm the crying toddler whose flailing body threatened to knock out her small frame.

"Don't come any closer," she trembled in a nervous, high voice. "Please."

Daphne walked towards the pair of them slowly, lowering her wand and staring the girl right in the eye. The girl shook on the floor, the babe wailing louder than ever. She lowered her own wand and held the child's head in her small arms, tucking him into her narrow chest. The teenage girl was very familiar to Daphne. She'd seen her countless times in her home or around Hogwarts, arms linked with Astoria, laughing together, smiling together.

"Johanna?" Daphne whispered, her voice breaking slightly.

"Daphne, please," Johanna begged, shaking with tears in her eyes. Johanna had never known Daphne well, only as Astoria's sister who would sometimes help them with homework, but she knew that Astoria loved and trusted her sister. Johanna too had never seen Daphne as someone to be afraid of, having always chosen Daphne as the first person she should find if something went wrong with Astoria, but the girl in front of her was someone different.

The Daphne that Johanna had known had been good. Though she hadn't ever spoken much, Johanna knew that much. She knew that Daphne would do anything to help Astoria and that she was truly kind and good. Daphne was never afraid of anything, nothing was too difficult for her. But this Daphne was different. There was a deep sadness and emptiness in her eyes that had never been there before. Her expression was pained and weary. She'd already seen too much and done too much for her to ever be the same anymore.

Johanna trembled, trying to find some semblance of the girl she knew from school. She already knew what had become of the people downstairs, but she had to protect the child. Johanna had no relation to him, but she couldn't let a baby die. "Please help me, help us. He's just a baby, Daphne," Johanna begged.

Daphne lowered her wand, unable to break her gaze with Johanna. She was tall and thin, with light blonde hair, but she reminded Daphne so much of Astoria. She had an innocent face, but one already scarred with the horrors of war. Johanna was no longer as Daphne remembered her either, but someone who'd been hurt already too many times, too young. Daphne reached out for her hand, pulling the girl to her feet. She stroked the back of her hand and cooed softly at the baby. He stopped his crying for a moment and stared at the two teenage girls in front of him. The whole house fell silent for a moment as Daphne and Johanna stared at each other.

Footsteps came up the stairs and Daphne could hear the gruff voices of her teammates. Her hand tightened around her wand and she turned around, just in time to see Mulciber's large figure in the doorway, grinning at her.

"Excellent," he said. "Round up the kids and we'll take this lot to the Ministry. A mudblood, two blood traitors, and the kids of some scum. They won't go easy on this lot."

Daphne opened her mouth as if to say something, but shut it again, slipping her wand into her pocket. She turned around slowly to Johanna, seeing the tears welling up in the girl's eyes. Daphne yanked the wand out of Johanna's hand and snapped it in half, as if in slow motion, right in front of her eyes. Johanna froze in shock, then disgust, terrified, horrified, that her best friend's sister would condemn her to this.

"I'm sorry," Daphne whispered so only Johanna could hear. "I have to."

Almost imperceptibly, Johanna shook her head and pushed away from Daphne, walking towards Mulciber with the child in her arms towards her final fate with an air of something that nearly seemed like defiance.

 _November 30, 1997_

Johanna was sentenced to the dementor's kiss. At only 15, she was tried as an adult and sentenced like one. The newly orphaned toddler was sent to a Ministry official's home to be a household servant for the rest of his life. As the sentence was laid upon her, Johanna did not even protest. She said nothing, arguing only for the little boy's right to go to a real orphanage or foster home instead of to a life of servitude. Daphne watched the entire trial unfold, sitting on the left hand side of Pius Thicknesse as his star witness to the treason committed in that house. Daphne and none of the other Death Eaters, of course, were tried for anything. They were the ones who were following the word of the law in this new regime.

She did not return to Hogwarts until early the next morning before the stars had even left the night sky. Daphne crept through the corridors silently and finally crawled into the darkness of the empty Slytherin common room.

"We have you been?" a voice squeaked. Daphne lit up the tip of her wand and whipped around to see Astoria standing there in her pink, floral pajamas, arms crossed, giving her an angry stare. "Well? You've been gone all day, again. Where are you going all the time?"

Daphne didn't say anything, she just stared her sister in the eyes. For a second, Astoria's dark black eyes, turned blue in the moonlight, the same weary blue of Johanna with that immense, deep sadness. Daphne remembered how the little glimmer of light finally left as she was kissed by the dementor. And Astoria didn't know. Astoria had no idea that her sister had just murdered a child's mother, sentenced that child to a lifetime of forced servitude, and then walked her best friend to a fate worse than death.

"I'm so sorry Astoria," Daphne cried out, her voice beginning to crack. The corners of her eyes filled with hot tears, threatening to spill over the edge. She wiped her face roughly with her dirty cloak before Astoria could see in the darkness. Astoria reached for her sister's hand sympathetically wondering, but Daphne pulled back as if Astoria's touch had burned.

"Daph!" Astoria exclaimed, still trying to get closer to her sister. "What's going on?"

"Quick!" Daphne suddenly exclaimed perking up. She grabbed Astoria's hand and ran up the stairs to their dorm. "Pack some things in a small bag, we're leaving."

Astoria's eyes went wide and she opened her mouth to protest, but Daphne hushed her and ran into her own room. Only a minute later, she was back, grabbing Astoria's hand and running out of the common room with her, Astoria barely keeping up with her.

"Daphne! Please," Astoria cried. "Tell me what's going on."

Daphne only shushed her sister and kept running up the stairs, their feet pounding on the stone steps. Somehow, the girls didn't run into any teachers on their way, running through the castle. Daphne finally stopped at a large eagle shaped knocker and waited. The knocker was made of some old, bronze. It seemed frozen with age, as if a real eagle had been coated in a bronze mold.

"At night they come without being fetched. By day they're lost without being stolen. What it is it?" the stone eagle came to life and spoke in a deep, reassuring voice. Astoria jumped back in shock, staring incredulously at what she could only assume to be the Ravenclaw Common Room.

"Oh fuck," Daphne swore under her breath. "I don't bloody know, just let me in, please."

The knocker shook its stony head and only repeated its question. Daphne swore again and made a string of empty threats.

"Dreams," Astoria said suddenly in an airy voice, staring out the tall window on the sides of the corridors. Through the tall, thin windows, she could just make out the moon and stars littered across the black sky. "Dreams are fleeting in the morning light."

"Well spoken, my child," the knocked said in an almost solemn voice. The door behind him swung open and Daphne look towards her sister in shock. A small smile spread across her face as Daphne climbed inside the common room and led Astoria up some stairs in the corner. The Ravenclaw common room was a circular room, full of high, arched windows and midnight blue drapery. Astoria stared up at the painted ceiling in wonder as stars danced across as an enchanted sky. A large marble statue of a beautiful woman holding a book and a wand, wearing a stunning crown on her head, stood near a large door.

"Daphne, where are we going? Please!"

"Shush," she muttered. "We'll be heard."

Astoria sighed to herself and still followed her sister up into the Ravenclaw girls' dormitories. She couldn't imagine what they were doing there, but Astoria trusted that her sister knew. Towards the end of the corridor, Daphne held out her hand and motioned for Astoria to wait outside for her while she entered a room. Astoria furrowed her brow, but obeyed anyway. She wondered if Daphne was going to steal something or meet up with someone. Astoria couldn't imagine why she needed to meet up with someone now in Ravenclaw of all places though.

She worried for a brief second that her sister had gone mad. For a moment, Astoria entertained the notion that she'd somehow lost her mind, that's where all her disappearances were to and that what explained that night's behaviour. Daphne had gone insane and now she had this mad idea that they'd run away from Hogwarts.

Astoria brushed this thought aside though. She bit her lip nervously and stepped towards the closed door, ready to push it open and drag Daphne out, back to her senses. Before she could though, the door swung open and two figures walked out. Daphne and Luna.

"Luna?" Astoria asked incredulously. "What is going on?"

"She's helping us escape," Daphne muttered. "Let's go. We haven't any time to waste."

Before Astoria could question it again, Daphne had once again grabbed her hand and was dragging her down the corridor with Luna beside them. The three girls hid in the shadows and ran around the building, sneaking away from Filch, Professor Snape, and the patrolling Carrows. Finally, they reached a blank wall.

"What is wrong with you?" Astoria asked, absolutely exasperated. The idea that Daphne had gone mad didn't seem so far off anymore. "Are you insane? Come on, we're going back to bed!"

"Shh," Daphne brushed Astoria's hand away and pointed at the wall. Where it had once been blank, it was now a large door, that Luna already had half open. Astoria stared mouth agape at the once blank wall.

"What?" she breathed as she walked in. It was a large room with hammocks hanging from the ceiling, divided into a few smaller rooms that looked like bathrooms. Sleeping figures snored in the hammocks as Luna weaved around them, leading the girls to a painting at the end of the room.

"Here we are," Luna said pointing at the painting of an empty tunnel. "This is your escape."

"Thank you, Luna," Daphne breathed. She took the blonde girl's hand and held it in both of hers. "Anything you need okay? Just let me know."

"I'm happy to help you," she said. "You're not a bad person, Daphne. Astoria, take care of her, okay?"

Astoria nodded, still speechless over the happenings of that night. Then, Luna swung the painting open like a door, revealing an actual tunnel behind it. Daphne climbed in and reached for her hand and pulled her up into the tunnel.

"You don't want to come?" Daphne asked Luna as she lit up the tip of her wand. "You could run too."

"I have to stay," Luna said cheerfully. "Good luck to you both though."


	6. Find

The tunnel was dark and water dripped down on the girls from unlikely places. Astoria tried to shield her head from the large drops, but they still fell all over her. Their footsteps echoed through the narrow passageway, the light at the end becoming larger and larger. Behind her, Astoria no longer saw the room full of sleeping students and hammocks, she just saw endless darkness. They made it through the tunnel quickly, emerging into an empty pub on the other side. Astoria peered around curiously, finding nothing but a few dirty plates and strangely enough, a goat wandering the hall. Across the way, she noticed a pig's head mounted on the wall with the title "The Hog's Head" etched underneath it in a fading print. Astoria had seen this pub in Hogsmeade before, but she'd never been inside, actively avoiding the place's dodgy reputation in favour of the more charmingly decorated Three Broomsticks. Daphne wasted no such time exploring her new surroundings unlike her sister. She grabbed Astoria's hand tightly and turned on the spot, disapparating before the elderly pub owner had even arrived to see his unexpected midnight guests.

The girl's reappeared at the doorstep of their home. The house had a large wraparound porch and slanted, tile roof. The familiar painted white house comforted Astoria as her sister madly went about this plan. The suburban home was all dark, not a single light on, but that was expected as it was approaching six in the morning. The entire neighbourhood was quiet, not even a crying baby or barking dog could be heard. Everyone slept soundly, not knowing what was going on outside. Daphne and Astoria entered the house and turned the foyer lights on, revealing the light airy furniture inside that their mother had always favoured.

"Mum!" Daphne called. "Dad?"

Only silence answered them. As Daphne turned on more lights and looked further into the house, a terrible revelation settled on her. The entire house was ransacked. Tables were overturned, the sofa was ripped open, walls were smashed. Their mother's prized Chinese vase was smashed and Astoria's favourite painting of the yellow daffodils in the sitting room was ripped open.

Someone had gone through the entire house looking for something. The girls weren't sure what, but it was certain that their parents were no longer there. Daphne's mind briefly flashed to the thought of her parents lying somewhere dead or captured in a prison, but she convinced herself that Linus and Norella Greengrass could never be caught, they were much too skilled for that.

"Come on Astoria," Daphne said quickly. She grabbed her hand and ran out of the house, disapparating as she walked, not even bothering to shut off the lights in the house. The fast movements and constant disapparation made Astoria feel slightly sick, as she never did get used to the sensation of side-along apparition. The nauseating trip was over soon though and the girls reappeared in an empty forest miles into the forgotten English countryside.

"Where are mum and dad?" Astoria asked in a panicked voice. She sat onto the mossy ground and held her knees together, the cold, wet moss soothing her panicked emotions. "Where are we, Daph?"

"Cave inimicium, Protego maxima, repello muggletum, salvia hexia…" Daphne chanted the spells, ignoring Astoria's cries behind her. Her heart was racing and her hands shook just the slightest bit, making her left sleeve fall, just the slightest bit down her wrist, revealing the black tattoo slithering across it. The mark burned on Daphne's skin, but she ignored the pain and yanked her sleeve back up, covering it again. When the Dark Mark burned, it didn't just hurt in that spot on her left arm, but it shot through her entire body, making Daphne fall to her knees. It hurt, pulling her towards some terrible assignment again, but Daphne barred her teeth and ignored the pain. She'd never go back. They say no one could run from the Dark Lord, but Daphne was determined. She'd never go back there again. She'd never answer to his call again.

When she finished the spells, Daphne slumped onto the grass and dropped her face into her hands, the mark on left arm still burning her entire body up from the inside out. She wanted to scream, but she couldn't allow herself to cry in front of Astoria. She had to be strong for her sister. Being with Astoria, seeing Astoria, Daphne couldn't help but remember the pleading in Johanna's eyes that then turned to anger, hatred. All Daphne could see in Astoria's large, black eyes, was the image of the light leaving Johanna's when she got the dementor's kiss.

As hard as Daphne tried, she couldn't always be strong for Astoria. She'd let her down time and time again and this was just another failure to add to that list. She couldn't protect Astoria from the Carrows, from the war, and now she'd turned her into a criminal. She'd now taken Astoria from the safety of the castle to the wild, where she was a fugitive.

"Daph, please, just tell me what's going on," Astoria pleaded. She rubbed her small hand gently across Daphne's shoulder, comforting her sister as the tears began to slide down the older girl's face. When Daphne looked up, Astoria was surprised to see the wetness. She didn't know her sister was capable of it still. The vulnerability was foreign on Daphne's face, but she wore it well. Astoria wrapped her arm around her sister tightly and kissed her on the top of her head, as if she were a small child.

"I'm so sorry, Astoria," Daphne said softly, shaking her head. "I know you'll never be able to forgive me for what I've done."

"Just tell me," she cooed sweetly. Daphne felt ashamed that it was Astoria comforting her in this time, but she couldn't help but crave the lightness, the brightness, that her younger sister had always infused into her life. "It'll all be alright."

Staring into Astoria's eyes again, Daphne relived the past night, but she knew that she couldn't hide this from Astoria forever. The guilt burned into her worse than the Dark Mark ever could and she could never live with herself if she continued to let Astoria have false hope for Johanna's return. The guilt of leaving Astoria in the dark about her true identity would consume Daphne. So, she reached for her sleeve and slowly pulled it up, revealing the mark burned into her, sliding across her skin. Astoria's mouth slowly fell open in shock as the terrifying tattoo seemed to almost come alive on her sister's arm. She flinched away from it and covered her mouth with her hands.

"Daph…" Astoria said in shock, her small body beginning to shake, heave.

"You have to understand!" Daphne cried, wiping tears from her face with her other sleeve. "They threatened to hurt you. Bellatrix Lestrange threatened you if I didn't join! I had no choice, Astoria!"

"Just tell me this," Astoria said, slowly standing up and backing away from the sister she had always trusted. "Just tell me if you hurt anyone."

"Tori…"

"Just tell me!" she demanded. Astoria wrung her long black hair in her hands, ripping through the knots and pulling at the ends. Her entire body shook as she cried and screamed at her sister.

"I'm so sorry, Astoria."

"Tell me who!" she screamed. Astoria's eyes were wild, thinking of all the muggleborns she knew who were on the run. She thought about Johanna and their neighbours, she thought about her Harry Potter on the run with those other two. What if Daphne had hurt them?

"Please Tori, forgive me!" Daphne begged, suddenly shaking with tears.

"Who?" she shrieked again.

"Jo-Johanna," Daphne finally sputtered out feeling as if she'd just killed all that woman and sentenced those children all over again. "And some others. Johanna got the kiss, there have been others, but I only recognized her."

Astoria went silent and backed away from her sister faster than she had before. She stared wide eyed and with distrust etched across her face. She felt her heart shatter, hearing that her best friend was as good as dead because of her older sister, the one who was supposed to protect her, to help her. Daphne had killed people, more people than Astoria even knew. She was a murderer. She was a killer, a Death Eater. She was one of _them._ She was someone she swore she'd never be. Daphne may never have been on the side of the resistance, but she was on the side of good. She wasn't supposed to be a bad person. She wasn't supposed to be one of them.

"You're… you're a monster!" Astoria cried. She stumbled backwards over a root and scrambled into the base of the tree. Daphne tried to come towards her. "Don't touch me!"

Her words tore through Daphne's heart, but she knew they were true. She was a monster, a killer, a Death Eater. There was no way around what she had done, who she had hurt. Daphne had already formed a system to hurt without conscience. She'd sold her soul to get where she was, to keep her family safe, but that didn't make her a saint.

"I'm sorry, Tori!" she cried. Daphne sat, huddled back on the ground, unable to stand for the pain tearing through her whole body. "But I had to! They threatened you!"

"How could you Daphne?" Astoria screeched. She clutched a tall tree, her clothes scratching and ripping against the rough bark. "How could you do that?"

"I don't know what to say Tori," she stammered burying her tear-stained face into her hands. "I'm so sorry. I can't fix this, I'm sorry."

Daphne slumped back into herself, burying her head in her lap again, muttering her futile apology over and over and over again. She rocked back and forth as Astoria watched, feeling this mixture of pity and terror for her sister. She didn't want to see Daphne hurting anymore, but she couldn't bring herself to speak to the sister she knew was a murderer. The girls stayed apart, together, but alone.

"Expecto patronum," Daphne said, her voice breaking. A wisp of silver pathetically fell out from the tip of her wand, but the full formed butterfly patronus Daphne knew she could produce refused to appear. She tried again, and again, but still, nothing happened.

"Expecto patronum!" she screamed, but still, nothing happened, not even a little spurt of silver. Daphne screamed into her lap and shook in her spot, hating herself for being unable to perform the one spell she needed.

"Daphne," Astoria said softly. She walked towards her sister, but her eyes stayed on the ground. "Let me."

Daphne looked up from her lap to see her sister standing next to her, not touching, but close enough. She looked at everything but Daphne, but Astoria was near her again, she could reach out to touch her if she wanted to. Daphne didn't though. She stayed huddled up into herself.

"Tell mum and dad that we need help," Daphne said dully.

Astoria raised her wand and muttered the spell quietly. A silver elephant glided out from her wand, filling almost the entire forest with its massive presence, dwarfing everything else around it. It sailed across the forest floor, filling it with light. Astoria whispered her message into one of its big, droopy ears and then the elephant disappeared into one single silver dot.

Moments later, a silver tiger appeared out of nothing with a message from Linus Greengrass. It stalked over to the centre of the clearing and spoke in Astoria and Daphne's father's deep, comforting voice. The sound of his soft baritone comforted the girls, they craved more. They needed to hear more of their father's soothing voice.

"Meet me at the place where you first walked," the tiger said slowly. It disappeared again in a mass of silver swirls, spinning around like a miniature ethereal hurricane before disappearing into vapours in the sky.

"Ramset Park," Astoria said. "Shall we apparate then?"

Daphne nodded and held her hand out for Astoria to take it. Her sister declined though, instead hanging onto the back of her shoulder, still refusing to look Daphne in the eye. Dropping her hand back to her side, Daphne sighed and spun quickly on the spot, disapparating again and leaving the clearing as if they'd never been there in the first place.

They arrived across the country in the dark thicket. Astoria pulled away from her sister quickly, scrambling through the heavy branches and stepped into the fall colours of Ramset Park, with Daphne not far behind. The trees shone in the dawn light with all those warm, autumn colours – red, yellow, orange. The leaves danced like a fire in a light wind, warming up Astoria and Daphne, despite the breeze. The girls remembered the park well from their childhood. It was only five minutes from their house, so their mother had taken them to the park often as children. The sisters had spent countless afternoons playing at the small playground and it was indeed where Daphne took her first steps before Astoria was even born.

The park was so full of happy memories that Astoria hated to see its memory tainted with the events of that day. She remembered her carefree childhood prancing about with Daphne and the other neighbourhood children. Smiling, laughing, dancing. They had been so happy there. Daphne had never let the older children exclude tiny Astoria from their games and even when Astoria tired of being around the others, she'd always join her sister in the small meadow across the way to weave together the flowers and made crowns and tiaras fit for princess. The park had been where the family would take little picnics in the summer when the weather was nice, a tradition that continued even when the girls went to school. The picnics, always right at twilight, bathed the family in a divine light, reminding the girls always that they were lucky to be born into the perfect home.

"Dad?" Astoria called out, running around the park searching for him. She went right passed the red slide where she'd once scraped her knee and the tall oak tree where Daphne had fallen and broken her arm. It was empty though. Astoria didn't see her father's large figure anywhere, not behind the trees, not in the meadow, not sitting on a bench. She felt hopelessness in her as she wondered if he had been somehow stopped from reaching his waiting daughters.

From the corner of her eye, she saw a man appear in the dim dawn light wearing a long cloak that reached his ankles. The man had a bushy beard around his face, slightly greying, but had a dignified look anyway. He neatly stowed his wand in his cloak and turned to search the park.

"Dad!" Astoria cried. She broke into a dead sprint towards the man and jumped into his arms, burying her face into his broad chest. Her now dirty pink pajamas were practically florescent against the dark cloak her father wore. Linus Greengrass stroked his youngest daughter's soft, black hair and smiled at Daphne as she walked towards them, blissfully unaware of his daughters' own struggles, thinking only of the life they'd have to lead outside Hogwarts.

He took Daphne's hand in his and rubbed circles on the back of it. He smiled warmly at his eldest daughter, while holding his youngest tightly in his arms. A tear welled up in Linus's eye as she stood there, in the park where his daughters had grown up, holding his now grown girls as the world fell apart around them.

"Why'd you leave school?" he asked. Linus stared nervously at his daughters, expecting the worse. Rebellion at Hogwarts, dissent, violence. He hadn't heard news from Hogwarts at all and hadn't been able to receive any of Astoria's plentiful letters detailing her three months at school.

"Why'd you leave home?" Daphne asked back, her voice cracking a bit still from her crying. Her eyes were still full of tears as she held her father's large hand in hers. Daphne noticed the roughness of them. The jagged cut riding along his jawline and that tattered clothes he wore. Linus Greengrass had always been such a properly dressed man. Daphne furrowed her brow, wondering what could have put her father into such a state to abandon the familial home and the stately manner he always presented himself in.

"Why don't we both explain when we get there?" Linus suggested. He grabbed onto both of his daughters tightly and disapparated with a loud crack, just as the sun fully rose into the morning sky.


	7. Unite

Daphne, Astoria, and their father reappeared in a small clearing in a woods similar to the one Astoria and Daphne had just left. Flowers decorated the edges of the meadow and the tall grass brushed their knees. The girls clutched their father's side and stared at the small cabin in front of them. The cottage was made of uneven stone bricks and had a tall, slanted roof of clay tiles. Ivy wound its way between the stones and up the walls of the little house. No smoke came out of the chimney, it was as if the house was abandoned. Only one small candle burned in the window on the second floor.

The three of them hadn't even made it to the house yet when the door burst open and a blonde woman flew towards them, crushing Astoria and Daphne in a long awaited hug. Norella Greengrass buried her face into her daughters' shoulders, relishing in the feeling of having them with her again after weeks of no news, constantly listening to the radio and reading the news, just waiting for some sliver of information about the happenings at Hogwarts. Astoria and Daphne took comfort in the familiar feeling of their mother, breathing in the familiar strawberry scent of her shampoo.

"I've missed you, my dears," Norella said tearfully. She let go of Astoria and Daphne, but held onto their hands, staring at her two girls, smiling ear to ear. For the first time since they arrived, Daphne and Astoria got a good look at their mother. She seemed to have aged 10 years since they last saw her. Streaks of white went through her honey blonde hair, lines appeared on her face. She seemed weary and tired. Her hands were rough and a bandage was wrapped around her right forearm, the slightest hint of pink peeking through the bandage.

"We've missed you too, mum," Astoria said softly. They followed their parents inside the small cottage to find it almost completely bare on the inside. It felt nothing like the warm, cozy house they had grown up in. Instead, the cottage was dark and dirty. The furniture was Spartan, with only a table and a few chairs scattered around it. The sink was piled with dirty plates and cobwebs hung from the ceiling. The strangest thing was the mound of radio equipment sitting on the table, lights flashing and knobs whirring. The machines made strange noises and static that filled the dank air.

"What's going on here?" Daphne asked, staring around the empty cottage.

"Your mother and I…" Linus began to stay, but stopped. He bit his lip, unsure of how to continue. He looked at his wife for reassurance. She nodded and rubbed his shoulder lovingly.

"This is a muggleborn safe house," he finally said. "I know it isn't much. But it really is quite nice upstairs in the bedrooms."

"Safe house?" Astoria echoed. Anxiety settled across her face as she turned to look at Daphne. The expression was mirrored on her sister's face, both of them thinking about the mark that was burning a hole through Daphne's skin.

Daphne was unable to speak, paralyzed with fear and the unbelievable irony of their situation. A Death Eater's parents were running a muggleborn safe house – fate had a cruel sense of humor. Linus and Norella looked at their daughters' stunned and silent expressions in confusion. They didn't understand the silent conversation that had taken place between them, unable to tap into their experience.

"We're one stop along the way to safety in France," Norella explained further. Daphne's stomach lurched. "We've already had a successful trip. Though, one of our houses was attacked last night. We actually just changed houses earlier this morning, for protection you know."

"And Astoria," Linus said slowly. "You should know, Johanna was here, with her mother."

Astoria felt as if she'd vomit. Her sister had been running around destroying the safe houses and systems that their parents had been building up. What Daphne destroyed, Linus and Norella built back up. It was only coincidence so far that Daphne hadn't raided her own parents' safe house. And what would have happened then? Astoria didn't want to think about that situation.

"Johanna," Daphne said finally. Her voice cracked and her right hand and bound tightly over her left wrist, as if she was going to snap her own arm. "Johanna got the kiss. The safe house is destroyed. Most of them are dead."

"Yes," Norella said in a surprised tone. She looked at her daughter quizzically, wondering how she knew such a thing, not even beginning to suspect the truth. "How did you know?"

Daphne stared down at her feet, unable to look her mother in the eye after what she had done. Her eyes filled with tears once again, falling onto the cold, dusty floor. Her throat closed up, unable to speak at all and Daphne's breathing suddenly became long and ragged. Her hands shook, but Daphne still kept her right hand clasped tightly over the fabric that covered her Dark Mark.

Astoria glanced over at her sister, biting her lip. She suddenly realized that Daphne was just a child. She was young and terrified and someone threatened and coerced her into doing something that was eating away at her and would torture her for the rest of her life. Daphne wasn't some cold-blooded killer, she was a child who was afraid. Astoria reached over and took Daphne's trembling left hand in hers, loosening Daphne's grip on her own wrist. Astoria rubbed calming circles on Daphne's hand, trying to calm her sister down.

"I love you, Daph," Astoria whispered into her ear. "No matter what, I love you."

Daphne breathed in deeply at the sound of Astoria's voice. She hung onto her sister's hand tightly, as if she'd collapse without her touch. The burning in her arm had long stopped, but Daphne still felt the ever-present pain the Dark Mark infused into her body. She'd never be without that heavy burden.

"Mum, dad," Daphne said softly. Norella reached for her daughter's face and wiped the tears from it, lifting Daphne's chin and staring into her daughter's deep, black eyes. "I'm so sorry mum," Daphne whispered.

"Whatever for, darling?" Norella asked. She rested her hand on Daphne's cheek gently. Daphne was reminded of Bellatrix Lestrange's fingers touching the same place where her mother's hands were now placed so lovingly.

"Daphne dear, you can tell us anything," Linus said. He stood beside his wife with his arm over her shoulder, looking at her daughter with concern in his eyes.

Daphne pulled away from her loving family's touch and sat alone on one of the stiff, wooden chairs. She reached for the hem of her left sleeve and began tugging at the fabric slowly. She struggled to bring herself to reveal the mark burned into her skin, to tell the truth about what she'd done, about who she'd hurt. It took every fibre of strength inside her to finally roll the sleeve up to her elbow the reveal the snake slithering up her forearm, taking over her whole body.

Even in the dim light, Linus and Norella recognized right away what was imprinted on their young daughter's skin. Astoria, this time not repulsed by the mark on Daphne's skin, moved towards her sister and wrapped her arm around her shoulder. She planted a soft kiss on her temple.

"Bellatrix Lestrange threatened to hurt Astoria if I didn't do it," Daphne said through her thick, hot tears. "I'm so sorry. I'm a monster. I'm sorry."

Monster. Astoria heard her own accusatory tone echoed back into Daphne's broken voice. Hearing her own painful words spoken back to her tore Astoria's heart open. She hated herself for what she said to Daphne, she wished she had understood then in the forest what she understood now. The world was not a friendly place.

"Daphne," Linus approached his daughter slowly. He crouched down next to her and took her two small hands in his. He rolled her sleeve down again, covering the mark, as if it weren't even there. "We love you, Daphne. Nothing changes that."

"I'm sorry dad," Daphne sniffled. "I killed that woman. I looked right into her eyes, blue, and I killed her. And then I saw Johanna and she… she asked me to help her and I wanted to! I really did, but I just… I just couldn't do it. I killed them."

There was a silence through the entire cottage. There wasn't even noise coming from outside in the woods around them. Linus crouched there by his daughter, holding her hands, their eyes meeting. His gaze almost assured Daphne that everything would be okay.

Norella stood away from the group. She stood tall in her dirty, red dress, her hand covering her open mouth. The world whizzed around her as Norella tried to make sense of what was happening right in front of her. This war had turned her world upside down, driven her out of her home, made her run, made her fight. It had been so hard on her, but she'd never imagined that it'd been harder on her daughters, who were supposed to have been safe in their school. None of the letters Norella and Linus had received from Astoria earlier in the year had indicated the pain that was etched across her young daughters' faces, making them years older than they had to be.

"Daphne," Norella said slowly. She walked slowly towards her daughter, tears blurring her vision. All she could think of was the sweet, innocent girl Daphne used to be. She remembered holding her for the very first time, two weeks premature, the smallest person Norella had ever seen. She had seemed so breakable and fragile in her arms, as if the world was too cruel a place for such innocence. Norella had done her best to raise Daphne with that sense of innocence permeating her life, but she'd still grown up to have to face such horrors. The pain of her war torn years at school had left their mark on Daphne.

Norella would never forget the way Daphne cried to her at Christmas in second year because the school might close for the Chamber of Secrets. She would always remember the tears Daphne spilled because Cedric Diggory was killed in that accursed tournament in her fourth year. These years of pain, of violence, had hurt Daphne more than Norella had even realized. It had broken her beautiful, innocent baby.

"I'm so sorry, Daphne," Norella breathed. She pushed past her husband and engulfed her daughter in a hug. Daphne buried her face into her mother's reassuring shoulder, relieved that they didn't see her as the monster she knew she was. Norella hung onto her eldest daughter, never wanting to let her go. She wanted to hide Daphne and Astoria with her forever, protecting them from the horrors of this world. She never wanted her daughters to have to suffer like they had already ever again. She wanted to shield them, to keep them young and innocent and sweet.

"I promise you," Norella said fiercely staring into her daughter's eyes. Norella piercing blue eyes had Daphne captivated. "Nothing can hurt you now. No one will ever hurt you again, my darling."

Astoria lay awake that night in the double bed curled up next to Daphne. The cabin was cold at night, the frigid wind blowing through the thin walls, but the enchanted fire Linus had set in the jar next to the girls kept Astoria warm. The room they slept in was small, barely fitting anything else besides the double bed and the nightstand beside it. The room was all wood, like the rest of the cabin, with a fluffy purple comforter spread across the white sheets. Daphne and Astoria cuddled up underneath it, Daphne falling into an easy sleep for the first time in weeks. Astoria's tiny body was balled up next to Daphne, under her sister's arm, where she could feel Daphne's even breathing.

Astoria couldn't sleep though. Her mind buzzed thinking about the events of the day. She stared at the sliver of moonlight peeking out from behind the dark, midnight blue curtains over the large rectangular window. The day had been exhausting for them all, listening to each other's stories from the past three months all day and into the night. Linus and Norella's safe house had begun operation one month ago, right when the letters from them stopped. They had successfully shuttled one group of muggleborns over to the French ministry and the second group was meant to be Johanna's. It was difficult to smuggle a group across the border though. They were heavily patrolled and enchanted so magic could get through without a permit and careful check from border patrol. Not even the muggle borders were open to travel across. All the points of transportation in the muggle world were enchanted to alert the Ministry if magic passed through them.

So, the muggleborns were forced to make their way to France by walking, apparating, flying, and hiding on Ministry sanctioned transport vehicles. They'd been smuggled to France among a collection of potions that was being transported to Paris. Once in France, activists helped the muggleborns get refugee status and eventually asylum. The one group that had already made it were living comfortably in their new Parisian lives, but there was already talk of an extradition order from the new British Ministry. If they were brought back to the UK, they would most certainly be executed or given the dementor's kiss.

"Daphne?" Astoria whispered. Her sister groaned and rolled over, opening her eyes slowly and smiling just the slightest bit at Astoria. In the dim moonlight, Astoria could just make out her sister's sharp features. That day though, Daphne had seemed to soften up. She was vulnerable again in a way she hadn't been for years. Her eyes were open again and her face invited conversation.

"What's wrong?" she asked in a hushed voice. Daphne reached for Astoria's hair and petted it softly. She smiled at her little sister's beautiful face and symmetrical features. Their father had always called her a little princess because he said only a princess could be so pretty and delicate. "Did you have a nightmare?"

"I'm fine," Astoria said in a hurry. She allowed a little smile on her face and put her hand on top of Daphne's. "I just wanted to know if you were awake."

"What's up?" Daphne asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She'd fallen into a deep, dreamless sleep, but had woken at the sound of Astoria's voice calling her.

"Been a bit of a mad day, hasn't it?" Astoria laughed a little. She couldn't imagine what the next day would bring, or if the whole day had even been real. Everything had seemed to have some surreal quality to it. The bright little cottage had seemed a little too picturesque in the sweet meadow, but the inside was almost cartoonishly drab, with the radio equipment on the table something plucked right out of an old-timey sci-fi film. "I'm having trouble processing it all."

"We'll figure it out," Daphne said. She smiled back at her sister and took her hand. Astoria shifted closer towards her sister and intertwined her legs with Daphne's. Heat radiated off of Daphne's body, warming Astoria from the inside out. She instinctively found the perfect cuddling position next to her sister, settling into the same shapes and forms that they were always so used to.

"I'm sorry I said those horrible things to you in the forest, Daph," she said softly. Astoria listened to her sister's even breathing as the whole house seemed to warm up as the sisters laid closer together. Being near Daphne again, with their parents, with so much love all around her, Astoria could still feel the presence of their lovely old house with its delicious scents and comforting look.

"Don't," Daphne shook her head, stopping Astoria from even continuing with that thought. "I love you so much Tori."

"I love you too," Astoria replied. She kissed Daphne's forehead and pulled her sister even closer until Daphne's head rested on Astoria's chest. She pulled the thick comforter over them both. Astoria closed her eyes, petting Daphne's smooth black hair and listening to her even, slow breathing.

Together, Daphne and Astoria drifted off to sleep.


	8. Cast

Astoria woke up early the next morning, before the sun had even risen into the frosty sky. She slipped on a pair of woolly socks and trekked downstairs towards the machines that were still making their strange static noises. Her parents had explained to her earlier that the machines were modified muggle equipment for untraceable communication with the other safe houses. It was how they got all their news about the new regime, through secret radio channels reporting the real news.

At first, Astoria had found it difficult to sleep through the constant static and noise, but eventually she managed to drift off, listening to the soft buzz from below her, lulling her to sleep. She missed the noises of Hogwarts castle, and the scent of her own home, but being with her family again had been close enough for Astoria. She needed this normalcy back in her life, even if it was the furthest things from normal.

"Mum, dad," Astoria said in surprise, noticing her parents sitting in the dim light beside the radio. "What are you doing up?"

Her parents had always slept in as late as possible on the weekends. Astoria couldn't recall a single time they'd been up before dawn. It was always her, waking with the sun and preparing breakfast for the family for when they inevitably woke up hours later.

"Good morning darling," Norella said. There was no trace of sleep in her voice. She was alert, wide awake. No hint of the usual sleepy Sunday mornings in the Greengrass household were noticeable in her voice now. "We're always up early now, listening to the news and such."

"Oh," Astoria said in surprise. "Have you had breakfast yet?"

"We had some tea," Linus smiled at his daughter and then turned back to the headphones he held, listening intently to some static on the radio, trying to decipher some reason from it.

"Well that isn't enough," Astoria frowned, feeling like the parent she always around breakfast time in the summers. "Have you been skipping breakfast? It is the most important meal you know."

"I'm sorry dear," her mother said. Norella fiddled with a knob, trying to make the static into something coherent. "Why don't you whip something up for you and Daphne?"

"I'm making you two breakfast," Astoria declared. "You need energy."

Astoria peeked into the cupboards to find them empty except for a few pieces of bread inside a small box. She picked up the pieces and deemed them good enough. The fridge was in an even more dismal state, with only some eggs and a cartoon of bad milk. Astoria tossed the milk out and then stared at the three pieces of bread and two eggs that she'd found in the kitchen.

"Is this all you've got?" she asked incredulously. "How have you survived this long?"

"There's food in the pantry darling," Norella said. She waved her hand at a door in the back. Astoria marched over. She peered inside, finding stacks and stacks of canned, preserved food. There were stacks of peach preserves and canned meats. A pile of tinned vegetables filled the corner and cartoons of liquefied, dodgy eggs sat on the shelf. Astoria frowned at the pile of strange, preserved food.

"This isn't real food," she said. Astoria picked up a tin of preserved catfish. It gave a putrid scent, making Astoria drop it again almost right away. "Is this what you've been eating this whole time?"

"Don't worry darling," Norella said causally. "We're perfectly fine."

"You shan't be fine long surviving off canned food," Astoria cried. "This stuff is vile! Honestly mum, you need to take care of yourselves better."

"I have missed you Astoria dear," Linus chucked at his daughter's incredulous expression at their food choices. "Why don't we whip up something? We've got some bread and eggs here. That'll do."

"There isn't nearly enough here for all of us, dad."

"Not a problem," Linus said. He pulled his wand out from inside his smoking jacket and pointed it at the food. Before he could make the flourish and say the spell though, Norella dashed up from her seat and grabbed his hand, yelling for him to stop.

"The Trace Linus!" she cried. Norella pulled the wand from his hand and stashed it in a drawer along with her own. "She's underage still, they'll find us if you use magic around her."

"I forgot," Linus sighed. "Daphne! She probably doesn't realize!"

Linus and Norella raced up the stairs and tell Daphne before she woke up and used magic, but Astoria wasn't concerned. Unless there was a pressing reason, Daphne did not rise before noon. As it was still the absolute crack of dawn, she did not see her sister awake already. So Astoria hung back, she stashed her own wand inside the drawer with her parents' and stared at the meager food in front of her. Before she arrived, her parents were freely using magic to help, but with her around, they were vulnerable, traceable. She made their whole operation that much more difficult.

Astoria followed her parents upstairs anyway though. She found them already in her and Daphne's room, taking her sister's wand from her while she protested loudly. Hanging onto her wand with all her strength.

"Please mum!" Daphne cried. She hung onto her wand with both hands, tugging it towards her chest like a child crying for sweets. "I won't use it! We just ought to have them on us, just in case, you know!"

"Daphne, we can't risk it," Norella reprimanded her as if scolding a child.

"But mum-" Daphne began to speak, but her face suddenly went white. Her mouth fell open as horror spread across her. "I used magic around Astoria already and she used magic too! I apparated with her and then I cast all those enchantments and then I apparated again and Astoria did the patronus charm. And then, dad, you apparated too!"

"I went right outside the protective enchantments," Linus explained, though his brow still furrowed with worry. "They know are general area from that, but they can't see the house still."

"The Fidelius Charm?" Daphne asked.

"We never cast it," Norella said. She wrung her hands together and began pacing the small room. Daphne's eyes followed her mother dizzyingly. "Too many people pass through these houses for it to be useful and it would just make it too complicated to get to the next house."

"Maybe it's time then, mum," Astoria spoke up. She was quiet still, but everyone heard her. "The other house wouldn't have been attacked if it had a Fidelius Charm."

Astoria shot a quick glance over at Daphne at the mention of the attack. She hadn't meant to implicate her sister, but she still couldn't shake off the revelation. When Astoria shut her eyes last night, finally falling asleep, she thought of the mark slithering across Daphne's skin. Astoria knew that what had happened wasn't Daphne's fault. In her mind, she knew that she couldn't blame her sister, she didn't want to, but she did. Astoria wanted to believe that the closeness she'd felt to Daphne the night before was real and could last, but in the light of day, Astoria couldn't help but see the horrors again.

"We have to discuss this with the group," Linus shook her head. "We were talking all day about the Fidelius Charm, but we just haven't reached a conclusion yet. Besides, only Luca and Callista are comfortable casting it and they can only get here flying, it's too risky."

"We could send a detail to protect them though," Norella suggested. "Contact the Order somehow? Or they could send someone to cast the charm. The chance of accidental magic around Astoria is too much, Linus. We need that charm."

"I can cast it," Astoria said softly. She didn't look up from her feet as she spoke, mumbling a little.

"Perhaps we could try?" Daphne suggested, ignoring Astoria entirely and speaking over her. "I mean, you or dad could try casting it, what's the worst that could happen."

"There are terrible consequences if the charm's cast wrong," Linus explained. He ran his fingers through the rough hair of his beard, tugging on the greying strands. "I think our best bet is still-"

"Didn't anyone hear me?" Astoria squeaked. The whole family turned to her, wondering what had caused Astoria to intrude on an 'adult conversation.'

"What is it darling?" Norella asked. She smiled sweetly at her daughter as if she were a little puppy, begging for attention. "Are you hungry? We'll figure something out dear, canned food isn't that bad."

"Mum, you didn't hear me at all!" Astoria huffed. She glared angrily at her family in front of her, annoyance flaring inside her as she realized that they all stared down at her as if she were still a child. "Professor Flitwick has been giving me private lessons this year. He taught be the theory of the Fidelius Charm. I can do it."

"You?" Norella asked. Her voice went up nearly two octaves as she raised her eyebrows nearly to her hairline. She cocked her head to the side, wondering if she'd heard correctly. "The Fidelius charm? That's very complex magic, darling. Are you sure?"

"I've learned all the theory, mum," Astoria repeated. "I'm sure I could do it. Professor Flitwick even said so."

"There are disastrous consequences if you don't do the spell correctly, Astoria," Linus pointed out.

"Dad, mum, I reckon she's right," Daphne interjected. She stepped towards Astoria and smiled at her sister. Astoria smiled back as brightly as she could. "Astoria's the best at charms in probably the whole school. Flitwick is always raving about her."

"Well Astoria, this isn't the classroom anymore," Norella said nervously. She reached for her youngest daughter and pulled her onto the bed beside her. She petted Astoria's soft hair gently and almost cradled her 15-year-old child like a baby. "There are real consequences now."

"You think I don't know that?" Astoria jumped up, out of her mother's arms and faced her family. Her nostrils flared, while her parents still looked at her with that babying glance, disregarding everything she said as dreamy and childish. "Of course I know that there are real consequences, mum! I get it, this is war and I get it! Did you know I've been top of my class at dark arts for a while now? I can do it too, the cruciatus curse, the one Daphne's so good at. I'm not a child, mum. I know you don't want to think about it, mum, but this war has made me grow up. My best friend is dead, my family are all fugitives, Daphne's well… you all know! This has been hard on me too!"

"Tori," Linus said kindly. He reached for Astoria's small hand and smiled reassuringly at her, as if that would fix everything in the world. "We don't want to put that much pressure on you. You don't need to worry your pretty head about these things yet."

"I don't need to worry?" Astoria cried. She pulled back from her father and let out a tiny scream in annoyance. "I'm not a little child! I'm not your baby and I need you all to treat me as such! I know what's going on and I understand, I really do! Let me help you! I can cast the Fidelius Charm, mum, dad. Call all the others on that radio thing, let's really talk about this."

Once again, silence filled the room. Astoria was breathing heavily from her rant, while her parents gave each other puzzling glances. Daphne, still sitting in her blue pajamas, looked back and forth from her parents and Astoria, unsure of what her next move should be. Astoria's arms were crossed across her polka dot pajamas, a pout settling across her lips.

"I'm sorry Tori," Daphne said. She looked at her sister like a little lamb with big, pleading eyes. "I should have told you what was going on in my life right away. I shouldn't have kept secrets from you for so long. I'm sorry, I just thought you'd sleep better not knowing, but you deserve the truth and you deserve to be treated like an adult."

"Thank you Daphne," Astoria said quickly. She stood up a little straighter and stared down her parents. "Well, mum, dad, what do you think? The Fidelius Charm? It's our best shot."

"The girl, she can do it?" Arnaut Romilly asked Linus and Norella. He had a bouncing grey mustache and wore a black vest, a pocket watch hanging from his chest. Arnaut was a large man, with a rounded belly and stout little legs. Astoria thought he looked quite a bit like a walrus. He was a businessman in France who'd been sneaking muggleborn across the border with his cargo. He helped to orchestrate the entire safe house system, according to Astoria's parents. He was to be Secret Keeper of the safe houses so he could send messages to muggleborns, letting them know the secret and then how to find the next house.

He'd come in from France that afternoon under the pretense of a business meeting to visit the safe houses and watch Astoria perform the Fidelius Charm. She nervously watched as Arnaut Romilly surveyed the house. Everyone else watched her as she clutched her thin birch wood wand and stared at the house in front of her. Now that it was actually time to perform the charm, Astoria suddenly wasn't so sure in her ability. An incorrect Fidelius Charm could make the entire house disappear. It could cause it to go up in flames or it could ricochet back and hit Astoria, making her the secret instead of the house. There were so many things that could go wrong with the charm and it was all on her.

"Well, let us begin then," Arnaut said. He waved his hand at Astoria and she stepped forward. Astoria closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. She thought of all the successful charms she'd done already – the patronous charm, an atmospheric charm, an anti-apparition charm, even a disillusionment charm. But despite that, Astoria had never attempted anything as complex or ancient as the Fidelius Charm. There were fully trained witches and wizards who couldn't do that one.

"You can do this," Daphne whispered into her ear. She rubbed Astoria's shoulder softly and then stepped back with her parents. Astoria shuddered a little at her sister's touch and breathed in again. She finally opened her eyes and stared at the house in front of her.

Astoria raised her wand, birch wood, dragon heartstring core. Her hand quivered just the slightest bit, but Astoria was steady. She felt ready for the spell, letting magic flow through her fingers and streaming around her wand. She could feel power building up inside her before she'd even spoken the enchantment.

"Phullato mystiko," Astoria said loudly. She moved her hand in a circular motion, a silvery glow spreading across the entire house, covering it in a fine dust. Everyone stared at the ephemeral glow surrounding the house as the same silver spread around Astoria's body, making it seem as if she were floating off the ground. The silver reflected back in her black eyes, making them glow like some otherworldly being.

"Krypsei gia panta," Astoria chanted. Her wand crossed through the air slowly, moving as if in slow motion through with trails of silver dust erupting from the end, covering the house even more until the entire thing bathed in silver. Sunlight bounced off the house, starting to reflect the sky off the silvery roof. Astoria's entire body moved with her wand, her eyes fixated on the disappearing house in front of her.

"Ensomatosetia dynamika," Astoria swirled the silver powder above her head in a small tornado spinning and whirling in the empty sky above her, making the trees blow, the bird flew away. Her hair flew up, spiraling along with the wild winds above her head, turning into a giant twister, threatening to pull them all in. Her arm began to quiver with the intense power surging through her. Astoria's knees buckled, but her eyes kept glowing, her wand kept moving.

"Astoria!" Norella cried. She went to reach out for her daughter, but Linus held her back, wrapping his arms around her, keeping his wife several feet away from their trembling daughter. Tears stung her eyes as she pictured her youngest daughter engulfed by the silver cloud whirring around her small body.

"She can do this!" Arnaut yelled over the howling winds erupting from the tip of Astoria's wand. He stepped forward, towards her and Astoria began shifting the hurricane forming above her head.

"Dosei mystiko!" she cried. With the last of her energy, Astoria pushed the silver hurricane at Arnaut, engulfing him in the magical winds, silver dust swirling all around him, lifting in right off the ground. Astoria trained her wand right on him as the tornado began to disappear, sucked straight inside Arnaut's body, evaporating through his pores.

Slowly, as the clouds disappeared and the house vanished from view, Arnaut was lowered back slowly onto the ground, trembling as he landed lightly on his feet. Astoria dropped her wand onto the grass and fell to her knees, panting and sweating through all her clothes. She lifted her head, staring around the now empty field.

"You did it," Norella breathed. She ran towards her daughter, crushing her in her arms, burying her face into Astoria's dark hair. "You really did it!"

Astoria smiled as Arnaut moved towards the huddled family. He shook Astoria's hand and grinned ear to ear, leading the Greengrasses to their now protected home. As they followed Arnaut, the house came back into view, no longer shrouded in the silver dust.

"Your daughter, she's incredible," he said as they entered the cabin.

Norella and Linus only smiled proudly down at Astoria. She had wiped the sweat from her forehead and was now at the sink spraying water over the rest of her. Daphne stood next to her small sister, wrapping her arm around her and whispering a fast conversation to her.

"On to the next house then?" Arnaut said. "We've got to work fast."

"She's exhausted!" Norella exclaimed, gesturing at Astoria slumped onto a wooden chair. At the mention of the next house though, Astoria stood up and smiled at her mother. She walked towards the three adults and raised her wand again.

"Ready," she said with a little grin. "Let's go."

"You have to protect her at all costs," Arnaut whispered to Linus. Daphne sat next to her father, listening in on his conversation with the Frenchman. "She's the key to taking us down now."

Linus nodded and sipped his tea slowly, watching his young daughter chatter animatedly with a woman hiding at one of the safe houses. She'd just cast five Fidelius Charms over houses in their area.

"No harm can come to her," Arnaut said again. "Don't tell anyone that she cast the charm."

"Of course," Linus said gruffly. He put the teacup down on the table and gave his daughter a little grin when she looked back at him, noticing his watchful eye on her. "No one will ever lay a finger on her."


	9. Celebrate

Astoria's eyes shot open and a smile spread across her face. She quickly rubbed the sleep out of her eyes and jumped out of bed, with Daphne still slumbering away on the far end. Astoria raced over to the wardrobe and pulled out a heap of brightly coloured jumpers – red, blue, green, bits of gold, and trails of sparkles. The jumpers were quickly made with rough wool Astoria had managed to get from the tiny muggle shop on the outskirts of the muggle village a few kilometres out, knit carefully with a pair of stolen needles. She pulled the red jumper decorated with white snowflakes over her messy bedhead, the jumper clashing horribly with her bright pink pajama bottoms.

"Daphne," Astoria prodded her sister with her index finger. Daphne only groaned loudly and rolled across the bed. "Come on Daph, get up! It's Christmas!"

Daphne sighed loudly and sat up in bed, her eyes still half shut and her hair an absolute rat's nest on top of her head. She tried fruitlessly to smooth down the mess, but gave up quickly and slumped back against the wooden headboard.

"Good morning, Tori," she mumbled, her eyes still glued shut. "It's much too early. Go back to sleep, why don't you?"

"It's Christmas morning!" Astoria protested. She flung a forest green jumper at Daphne, covered in brightly coloured baubles dressed up like a Christmas tree. Daphne tucked the jumper under her arm and slid back beneath the purple covers. Astoria knit her a jumper every year and each year she made it a personal goal to make it gaudier than the last.

"Five minutes!" Astoria warned Daphne as she walked out of the room. "Five minutes and you better be downstairs with everyone!"

Daphne's only response was another groan as she pulled the covers tightly around her body, blocking out all the sunlight streaming in from the small window beside her. Astoria cheerfully waltzed down the rickety thin staircase, holding the two remaining icy blue jumpers over her arm. Her parents were already downstairs, sitting around their strange radio, listening for any news. Astoria could just make out the news broadcaster on Potterwatch reading out a list of names. If she hadn't been listening so intently, Astoria would have mistaken it for just a soft hum, but it wasn't. It was a list of the dead, that much Astoria was sure of. For a minute, she stayed sitting there on the steps, out of view of her parents in kitchen. The jumpers sat in her lap, while she listened carefully to the list. A few names stood out to her. The names of people she vaguely knew or recognized. Johanna's name, along with all those in her family, had been read out weeks ago, but there was always someone new to add to the tally.

"Tori?" a voice said from the top of the stairs. Astoria turned around to see Daphne stepping towards her, wearing the green jumper over her dark pajamas bottoms. She stopped two steps above where Astoria sat and crouched down, peering worriedly at her little sister. "Let's go, you don't need to listen to this. It's Christmas, after all."

Astoria nodded weakly and continued her way down the stairs. She plastered a wide smile on her face and skipped towards her parents in the kitchen. They hastily shut the radio off when they saw Astoria and Daphne approach and gave the girls their own wide grins, pushing that very long list of the dead and missing to the back of their minds.

"Good morning, darlings," Norella said sweetly. She went towards and kettle on the stove and held up a pair of red mugs. "Tea, dears?"

"Thanks mum," Astoria said. She held out a jumper to her father and laid the other over her mother's chair – matching icy blue ones with a happy snowman in a top hat on her father's and a snowman in a pink sun hat on her mother's. "What do you think?"

"Lovely work as always, Tori," Linus grinned. He hugged his smallest daughter tightly and ruffled her soft, tousled hair. "You've truly outdone yourself."

"Thanks dad," Astoria smiled. She sat down on her father's lap and reached for the radio. She turned the dial up and listened carefully to a familiar voice. Astoria had never actually known Fred Weasley personally, but everyone at Hogwarts had known of Fred Weasley. Astoria remembered the time he put a little jinx on one of the older boys who was teasing her. She'd never thanked him for it, too shy to approach him always, but still, Astoria had always liked him and his twin brother.

"…British muggleborns have been located in France, likely through the underground safe house network, but have mostly fled again for fear that the Death Eaters will spread into neighbouring countries. No reports yet of plans for world domination from You-Know-Who, but…"

Linus turned the volume on the radio down again and shook his head. "Not on Christmas," he said. "It's your favourite holiday, Tori."

"I want to know what's going on," she said softly. Astoria rested her head on her father's shoulder and sighed. Still listening intently to the soft buzz of Potterwatch in the background. "Can we help them? They need a new place to broadcast from, right?"

"They'll be okay, Tori," Norella assured her. She rubbed her daughter's shoulder lightly and pushed the mug of tea towards her. "They're all very powerful wizards. They'll be alright."

Astoria bit her lip and nodded. She thought of Fred and George, and their friend who always did the Quidditch commentary with that instantly recognizable radio voice. She thought about Professor Lupin, another voice she recognized on the programme, her first year Defense against the Dark Arts professor and the only one who had actually made her like the subject. She didn't _really_ know these people, but they were there, hiding somewhere deep in the forest or in the British countryside, just like she was and that made their connection to her seem very real to Astoria.

"The muggleborn is coming today, right?" Daphne interrupted abruptly. She had her arms crossed over her chest, leaning against the kitchen counters with her mug of tea at her hips. Her expression was blank and unreadable, contrasting sharply with the jaunty jumper she wore.

"Right," Norella said quickly, playing with the ends of her frayed red dress. "A young woman, Arnaut says. Twenty-years-old, she's traveling with a child. Her name is… damn, what's her name again, Linus?"

"Nava," Astoria answered for him quickly. She'd had a knack for remembering these sorts of little details for as long as she could remember. "Her name's Nava, mum. She's twenty, from London. She's coming here from the Bones safe house with her sister, twelve-year-old Mahin. They can't apparate because the sister's underage. They're coming by foot tonight."

"Right you are, darling," Norella nodded. "Nava and Mahin, they're sisters too. Poor girls, having to come here by foot."

"Better than the alternative," Daphne stated. "Better to walk across the country on foot than be shot out of the sky by Death Eaters. Fly here and they'll never make it."

Norella bit her lip and made a crude, little noise. "Shush," she said, shaking her head furiously. "Not on Christmas. I'm sure Nava and Mahin will be perfectly alright. Now, Christmas. It's Christmas."

"Of course, dear," Linus said. "Now girls, we might not have all the trimmings of a regular Christmas, but it is a special day, so let's try, alright?"

He looked straight at Daphne. She bit her lip and nodded imperceptibly. Uncrossing her arms, Daphne took a sip of the piping hot tea. She pulled her wand out of her pocket and pointed it around the room, leaving a trail of sparkling, white icicles along framing the small cabin.

"There," she said quietly. "A little Christmas cheer."

Astoria smiled brightly at her sister and picked up her own wand from the kitchen table. Bubble erupted from the tip, freezing midair as they hung above the Greengrass family's heads. The frozen bubbles turned began changing colours as Astoria's wand danced through the air, decorating the empty little cabin with spurts of red, green, silver, gold, and white.

She stepped into the corner of the room and grinned back at her family. She raised her wand once again and focused hard on the image in her mind. Astoria's hand trembled just a little bit as she spoke the incantation softly, out of earshot from the rest of the family. At first, nothing happened, but then, bit by bit, ice began growing from the ground like some kind of wintry plant. It began to take shape as Astoria's wand moved around it, growing to nearly 6 feet tall in the shape of an icy Christmas tree.

"We might as well have a tree, right?" Astoria asked, turning back to face her family. "A little taste of normalcy."

"Beautiful work, darling," Norella smiled. She stepped towards the icy Christmas tree and ran her fingers over the smooth surface. A tear strung her eye. Wiping it away quickly, Norella turned back to her family, a careful smile plastered across her lined face, but with something sad still stinging her crinkled eyes. "Now, how about some hot chocolate?" she asked softly.

"That would be lovely mum," Astoria responded. She summoned the carton of powdered chocolate over to her and uncapped the tin. "Mhh, smells wonderful."

"I-I have some peppermint here too," Norella said. She slowly made her way to the pantry, searching through the shelves. Her hands shook just the slightest bit, knocking over a tin of peas as she pushed through the cans. "Daphne, why don't you help your father with the cleaning upstairs? Our guest will be staying the night."

Daphne cringed as her mother said 'guest.' It was what Norella called all the refugees that came through their doors – guests. As if they had been invited into the Greengrass home for tea and deserts. As if they'd come for friendly conversation and polite small talk about their regular, mundane lives. She supposed it gave her mother some sense of normalcy, but to Daphne, the muggleborns would never be simply guests and the cabin in the woods would never be home.

Still, she and her father hurried upstairs to fix up the bedrooms, while Astoria and Norella stayed downstairs. Astoria watched her mother's hands shake as she scooped the chocolate powder into the colourful mugs. She spilled the smallest bit of powder across the counter as she did.

"Let me," Astoria said. She swiftly took the spoon from her mother's hand, dumping an even two scoops of powder into each mug. "It's okay, mum."

"I'm sorry Astoria," Norella said quietly. She hung her head, leaning her hands on the countertop. Her blonde hair hung in greasy strings over her thin face, weighed down with the weight of the world. The years seemed to be crushing Norella, who had still seemed so youthful, just a few months earlier. Astoria could see the toll the last few months had had on her parents' in their weary expressions, dirty clothes, and lines where there hadn't been before. Somehow it seemed all the more pronounced on Norella who had always been so beautiful. Astoria had never known a woman more beautiful than her mother.

"It's fine mum," she said. "You're just stressed."

"I never wanted this for you," she murmured, shaking her head just the slightest bit. "I never wanted you and Daphne to suffer like this. This was supposed to be over. You weren't supposed to grow up under the threat of war. It was supposed to be gone."

"It's not your fault," Astoria comforted her mother, slipping her arm over her thin frame. Norella sniffled, wiping away her tears again on the sleeve of her dress.

"I'm fine," she nodded quickly. Norella stood up straight and shot a steady stream of boiling water into each other four mugs. She stirred each one quickly with a small silver spoon decorated with a silver crest of some unknown family on the handle. Astoria helped her mother move the hot mugs to the table, pushing aside some radio equipment still lying around. In the silence, Astoria could still make out the soft hum of the radio static coming from behind her.

Norella smiled at her youngest daughter and took her little hand. She rubbed the back of it softly, staring at Astoria's shiny hair and bright eyes. She was beautiful, but someone who had already been through too much. It wasn't fair to ask her children to live like this, but they didn't have a choice anymore. Norella had always believed that it was too much of a burden on Astoria to ask her to carry all the Fidelius charms of all those safe houses with her. It wasn't fair to ask a child, her child, to bear that load. And while they had asked one daughter to protect this entire system that she had no part in building, they had to ask the other daughter to hold her terrible secret from the world. Norella no longer wanted to see this weight in her daughters' eyes, she wanted to see the lightness of their childhood, innocence, happiness, freedom.

"You're so brave, Astoria," she murmured. "You and Daphne are so brave, my sweet angels. It isn't fair what you've been through. It isn't fair at all."

"Well children learn from their parents, don't they?" Astoria smiled, the corners of her lips turning up just the slightest bit. "Daph and I learned from the best."

That night, the Greengrass family sat around small wobbly dining table, lit by the glow of the candles on the icy Christmas tree, their light refracting off all the pure ice in the room. Despite the cold decorations, the Greengrass family was warm, partly from their makeshift fireplace in a glass jar and partly from the hearty meal of canned food they had just enjoyed together. Sweet laughter hung in the air around them, the happiness radiating off them, despite the constant gloom that seemed to linger over the safe house. Their chatter even nearly drowned out the slow, even buzz of radio static that was always in the background as they waited for the arrival of the unknown muggleborn.

They had gotten a message from her one day earlier, when she was still in the Bones safe house. Her smooth, alto voice was now echoing through Daphne's mind. Playing back and forth, back and forth, as she waited for the person that voice belonged to. It seemed almost recklessly soothing to Daphne, as if she could listen to the honey alto forever, gliding over each phrase softly. She was intrigued already by the woman this distinct voice belonged to, wanting to know more about her, who she was, wanting to hear her speak every word in the English language already from that short message received over the grainy radio a day ago.

"They'll be hungry," Norella declared. She stood up from the table and cleared away all the Greengrass's dinner dishes with a flick of her wand. "Canned soup, you think? Or something heartier?"

Half an hour later, Daphne sat by the window, watching for some figures to emerge from the trees. They'd been given the secret by Arnaut Romilly and had a charmed map to find their way to each safe house as they needed it. Daphne felt quite sorry for Nava, to have to make the 80 mile trek from the last safe house to theirs, but to fly or apparate with an underage witch was a death wish. Daphne figured that they must be exhausted now, having completed their trek, so she waited for some wretched figures to stumble towards their safe haven.

Forty minutes passed by and Daphne bit her lip nervously. She worried that the worst was to happen, that Nava had been captured or hurt along the way, somehow prevented from making it to safety. Her own family wouldn't be threatened, that was the beauty of the Fidelius Charm, but Daphne couldn't help but worry for this strange woman traveling through the night.

At a quarter to eleven o'clock, two figures stumbled out of the tree line into the clearing. The taller of the shadowy figures reached forwards, as if she couldn't believe that what she was seeing was real. Her fingers grasped at the now only ten feet away house with its dim candle light setting the white snow almost ablaze in the dark night. She tugged at the smaller figure, who was tripping over herself with exhaustion, and the pair finally staggered towards the front door as Daphne rushed out to greet them.

"Nava?" Daphne called into the midnight silence. "Nava and Mahin? Is that you?"

As the shadowy figures approached the cabin light, Daphne began to make out the blurry features. The taller, Nava, wore a dark red scarf over her shiny black hair, now plastered to her face with sweat and melted snow. She had large hazel eyes, almond shaped and rounded like a cat's. Her heavy coat, drenched all the way through, seemed to weigh her down as she slogged through the piling snow. Still, Daphne couldn't help but be struck by her strong, defined features. Her thick eyebrows that framed her face, the delicate cupid's bow of her lips. She was undeniably beautiful, even in her exhausted state.

"Greengrass safe house?" Nava said breathlessly in that honey voice that Daphne had now memorized. "Is this it?"

Daphne nodded and moved aside so Nava and Mahin could come in. The younger girl looked very much like her sister, with a dark blue scarf over her hair and swarthy skin, dusted with faint freckles. Norella immediately ran over and took the girls' heavy coats from them, offering them seats and warm soup. Daphne stayed in the corner, near the front door, watching their two new 'guests.'

Nava and Mahin quickly slurped up their soup, finishing the large bowl in seconds before diving into the plates of canned vegetables and cured meats Norella had also laid out for them. Nava mumbled something to her younger sister in Arabic, making the little girl blush and move slower at her food. Nava giggled a little, a twinkling laugh that bounced off the cabin walls.

"Thank you," Nava said finally as she finished her food. "We're so grateful that you've let us into your home."

"Of course, darling," Norella replied. "We're so happy you're here. I'm Norella, by the way. This is my husband, Linus, and my two daughters."

Norella gestured at Astoria, standing near the pantry, and Daphne, still standing by the door, watching the muggleborns. Nava smiled kindly at Astoria who waved back and introduced herself, then turned to Daphne. The girls made eye contact, Daphne's black ones locking with her hazel ones. Nava smiled gently, her pearly white teeth illuminated the room, rendering Daphne almost speechless.

"I'm Daphne," the Greengrass girl managed to say at last. "Nice to meet you."


	10. Talk

"Hello Daphne," Nava said as she came down the stairs. It was past midnight, everyone else snoring soundly already. Daphne was awake though, sitting at the bottom of the stairs, listening to the quiet buzz of radio static. Her left arm was burning underneath her fuzzy jumper, more so than usual, sending the pulsating pain through her entire body. Usually, Daphne could ignore the near constant pain of the Dark Mark, but it seemed particularly intense that night. He was summoning her, trying to break her once again by sending the unending pain jutting through her body, but Daphne was strong. She clamped down on her lip, biting until she could taste metallic blood in her mouth, if only to draw her own attention elsewhere.

"Hi," Daphne replied softly, trying not to let Nava know what she hiding underneath her lumpy, green jumper. The pain squeezed on her voice, but still, Daphne could put on her show of normality like she always did for her family. Her right arm was clasped tightly around the mark, a little voice in the back of her mind telling Daphne that it wouldn't hurt if she just cut the arm off. Daphne tried again to silence the voices in her head telling her to mutilate her body, but she couldn't. Not this time. This time they were still screaming through her head

"Couldn't sleep?" Nava grinned and sat down next to Daphne. She looked at the younger girl sympathetically, not really knowing though about the voices that shouted to her from the inside. "Me neither."

Daphne blushed, staring at her feet, Nava's sweet smile momentarily making the pain fade. The red scarf that Nava was wearing earlier was dry again, her hair voluminous and shiny under the vibrant colour. Daphne still couldn't look the older girl in the eye, some strange fear going through her head that Nava would be able to see through her and realize what she was hiding. The pain threatened to rip her apart from the inside, but on the outside, Daphne still smiled weakly, opening herself to conversation with Nava.

"Thank you for letting my sister and I stay here," Nava said. "It's brave what you and your family are doing."

"No problem," Daphne muttered. She shoved her left arm behind her back, crushing it with her body weight, numbing it just the tiniest amount. Nava's voice could almost make her forget, but not quite. Her soft velvet voice wasn't quite enough for that.

"My sister and I have been traveling for four weeks now," Nava revealed. "Always traveling through the forest or back alleys. It's been hard on her. She's never known war before."

"And you have?" Daphne asked, raising her eyebrow. She peered up behind her stringy black hair hanging in front of her face, eager to know more about Nava. The older girl fascinated Daphne, to a point that confused her. She'd never been so captivated by another person before, so interested to know their life, their story. The feeling was foreign to her, but it warmed her up. Not in the same way the pain of the Dark Mark burned inside her, but in a slow, gentle way, like a warm hug or a hot drink.

"I grew up in Iran," Nava explained, a kind of sadness in her eyes as she reminisced about her past. "I was born while the country was in a revolution, overthrowing the monarchy, and then I grew up watching my nation fight with Iraq. We left when I was eight, right after Mahin was born, but I remember. My earliest memories are of running into the bomb shelter."

Daphne sat for a moment, stunned by Nava's story. She'd never known anything about muggle wars or of their history. She'd never stopped to consider before that the muggle world had their own wars and battles to be fought. Daphne had never thought about how the muggles fought without magic or what they fought over without blood status. The muggle world was all a mystery to her, but as Nava spoke about her world, Daphne wanted to know more about this strange foreign world that was somehow all around her, but at the same time such a mystery. Most of her knowledge of the muggle world came from Professor Alecto Carrow's twisted muggle studies class, but somehow, Daphne didn't believe that was based in much fact.

"It just isn't fair to Mahin," she continued, shaking her head. Nava shut her eyes for a moment, her heavy lids blocking the rich colour from Daphne's view. "I can do this. I mean, I remember what it was like running through deserts and hiding from all different forces. I know what it's like to live in fear, but she doesn't. It's been peaceful for her entire life up until she went to Hogwarts. I didn't want her to go, but we didn't have a choice and now she's here with me instead of safe with my parents."

Daphne nodded, noting the regret and pain seeping through Nava's voice. She cared about that little girl more than life itself. Daphne could see it in the way she walked towards the cabin hours before with her arm wrapped around the exhausted child. She could hear it in the nostalgia of Nava's voice as she spoke of Mahin's peaceful life.

"I didn't want my sister involved in this either," Daphne said. "She's delicate, you know? Astoria's too kind and sweet to be involved in all this, but I dragged her into it. I thought I was protecting her, but now she's too involved to ever be safe. Of course, Astoria's older than Mahin. She can hold her own, but she's just so little."

"I used to find her so annoying," Nava said, a little smile spreading across her face. She looked beyond Daphne at something in the distance, but of course, in the tiny cabin, there was nothing there. "When she was young she'd always bother me to show her some magic or teach her how to do it. That's when I realized she was a witch too, when her toys began levitating and it wasn't my doing."

"Astoria used to steal my school books, before term even started, and then wrote all sorts of notes in the margins. She'd learn the spells before I did, sometimes. I thought she was such a brat."

"Sisters are like that," Nava laughed. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a crumpled up old photograph. It didn't move like the ones Daphne was used to seeing, but there was something very magical about the photo. It showed the pair of them, Mahin and Nava, sitting below a tall poplar tree. Nava looked about nine or ten-years-old and her sister just a baby, crawling towards her, frozen in time. The girls smiled brightly in the photograph, unaware that someone had taken it.

"It's beautiful," Daphne said. "You and Mahin must be very close."

Nava shook her head sorrowfully. "No," she said. "We weren't actually, not before all this, at any rate. I was always at school or at my friends' houses over the summer. I loved wizarding culture so much, I just never wanted to go back to the muggle world. I regret it now, not spending much time with my family."

"Astoria and I were always close," Daphne mused. In her conversation with Nava, Daphne could almost forget the pain searing through her arm. Nava felt comforting, like she'd been there for Daphne's entire life. It was refreshing to have someone who understood what Daphne felt, even if she was from an entirely different world. "Astoria's my best friend, I just wish I knew how to protect her."

"You're just a child yourself," Nava said shaking her head. "Your parents protect both of you."

"Right," Daphne blushed again, a bright red coloured that she tended to avoid whenever possible, making her cheeks all splotchy and uneven. "They can't protect us against everything though. There are people out there…"

"Death Eaters," Nava said, her teeth clenched. Daphne noticed her fist tighten as and angry grimace spread across her face. Her angry tone sent shame running through Daphne's whole body, almost overpowering the blistering pain from the mark with another kind of pain. The choices she'd made in the past would always haunt Daphne, the cowardly decision she'd made in the name of protecting her sister, but maybe more to protect her own skin against Bellatrix Lestrange.

Bellatrix Lestrange, who still haunted Daphne's nightmares. Her twisted laugh was still the one Daphne heard whenever silence fell upon her. When the pain searing through her body threatened to drive her mad, it was Bellatrix's horrifying figure that Daphne saw. She couldn't ever shake off the memory of her days spent with Bellatrix Lestrange learning loyalty and ferocity. Bellatrix would forever terrify Daphne to her absolute core, more so than the faceless Dark Lord who Daphne had only seen once to have the mark burned onto her skin.

"Daphne?" Nava asked. She reached across the empty space between them, making contact with Daphne's pale, cold skin. Her warm hands, almost burned, sending a little twinge through Daphne's left arm. Nava rubbed circles on the back of Daphne's icy hands, staring into her cold, dark eyes that seemed to stare at nothing at all. "Are you alright?" she asked again.

Daphne nodded her head and stared at the spot where Nava's skin touched hers. The other girl's warmth radiated into Daphne, numbing the pain of the still throbbing Dark Mark almost immediately. "I'm fine," Daphne said quickly. She shot Nava a feeble smile as she brushed her stringy hair out from in front of her eyes.

"Your skin is cold," Nava said. She grabbed Daphne's other hand and rubbed them between her warm ones. A look of concern filled her eyes. "Let's get you to bed."

Daphne allowed Nava to lead her up the stairs, her arm draped around Daphne, keeping the warmth inside her body. She felt more comfortable than she had in months in this relative stranger's embrace, as if she belonged there, tucked under Nava's gentle arm, leaning her head on her shoulder.

"Thank you," Daphne whispered as they stopped in front of Daphne and Astoria's closed bedroom door. She could hear soft snoring coming from her parents' bedroom across the corridor and Astoria's even breathe behind the closed door.

"Goodnight Daphne," Nava squeezed the younger girl's cold hands once more and kissed her softly on the cheek. In the darkness, Daphne felt herself flush bright pink as the pain in her left arm actually began to fade away. She touched the spot where Nava's lips touched her skin and watched as the she disappeared into the other room.

The man pulled his thick hood over his face as he hurried down the dark street, rain beating down on him. He had a lumpy rucksack over his wiry shoulder, almost dwarfing his thin figure. His face was hidden in the shadows, out of view from the florescent street lamps that made the damp London streets look like something out of an old oil painting. His were the only footsteps in the whole neighbourhood, for even in this rough spot, people stayed in their homes on Christmas night.

This man was alone though, making his way down the streets at a brisk pace, always looking over his shoulder as if he were waiting for a monster to jump out from behind the rubbish bins. Finally, he made his way inside a decaying building, or what was left of a building. The windows were all smashed in and the inside was skeletal, just plain concrete floors and wooden beams holding the ceilings up. It had already been stripped of anything even remotely valuable, only leaving the shell behind to shelter those who had nowhere else to go.

The man was so happy to be out of the cold that he did not even notice how empty the building was that night. It did not strike him as odd that the usual burning rubbish bin fires were gone and the huddled masses were nowhere in sight. In their place, was just one dim light coming from the centre of the building and a single woman's shadowy figure.

"Oi!" the man called out gruffly. "Wotcher miss, you don't wanna be 'round these parts at night."

The woman walked towards him, her dress swishing with the movements of her hips and her wild curls bouncing behind her. Still, the man could make out no more than her silhouette. The woman's heels clicked on the concrete floors as her hand reached up into her sleeve, as if to pull out a weapon. The man cocked his head to the side, taking a step back as the woman approached. He stumbled backwards just a tad, turning on his heel to run, but a pair of ropes yanked him back, wrapping around his whole body, crushing his lungs.

He found himself sitting in the dim light, the ropes tied tightly around his torso prevented him from standing again. He whipped his head around to see who the mysterious woman was, but didn't see anyone there.

"Please!" he pleaded into the emptiness. "I've done nuthin' wrong!"

"Henry Watherson," a woman's voice drawled, her posh accent echoing around the empty structure. She stepped forward slowly out of the darkness, showing off her gaunt features and aristocratic clothes in the dank squatting grounds. "Pleased to make your acquaintance."

"My name's not Henry," he stammered. He tried scrambling away from the woman, but something kept him glued in place in the centre of the mysterious lighting. "You've got the wrong bloke! My name's James Staten, I swear it!"

"I think you know," the woman said in a high pitched voice. Henry noted that she was rather beautiful, but there was something wild in her dark eyes, as if she were a feral animal more than a human being. "Henry Watherson, magical maintenance at the Butterbeer head office. You attended Hogwarts from 1973 to 1980, graduated with four NEWTs, all dismal grades."

"I don't know what you're talking about," he cried. "Please, you've got the wrong man!"

"You disappeared from your job on the first of August 1997 and you've been hiding out here with muggle bums ever since," the woman continued on. "Blood status – mudblood."

The man's eyes filled with terror at her words. He curled up into himself, terrified of this strange woman he only recognized vaguely from the wanted posters that littered the streets years before, in a different life. Henry Watherson thought he'd outrun them, that he'd truly been able to start over as James Staten, but he should have known better than to have believed he could beat the Dark Lord.

"Bellatrix Lestrange, perhaps you've heard of me?"

She crouched down to his level and looked Henry square in the face, daring him to stare back into her own eyes. Henry cowered in fear, knowing what her people did to those like him.

"I can help you," she said finally. Bellatrix stood up again and began walking slow circles around Henry, who was still folded into himself at her feet. "I can help you get out. Isn't that what you want? A chance to start over somewhere else."

"H-how?" Henry asked, his eyes turned wide as he finally look up, meeting Bellatrix's beady black eyes. He had the expression of a beat puppy on his emaciated face.

"I just ask that you help me in return," Bellatrix grinned. She raised her wand and with a flick the ropes disappeared from Henry's body, freeing him again. She held her hand out and pulled the skinny man to his feet. He stood nearly half a foot taller than her, yet somehow she was still the more imposing of the two.

"I'd do anything," Henry said quickly. He bowed his head in deference to her, not daring to look her in those snake-like eyes again.

A sly grin spread across Bellatrix's face, as she folded her hands together in front of her. She looked like an excited child on Christmas, about to get their favourite gift.

"Have you heard," Bellatrix asked in her syrupy voice. "Of the safe house network?"

"Good morning Mahin!" Astoria chirped as the young girl made her way down the stairs. They were the only two awake at the early hour, Astoria awoken by the sound of birds and Mahin awoken by the scent of warm breakfast foods from below. She sat down on one of the rickety chairs, her feet barely touching the ground when she sat. Mahin was quite small, stout and short, like a toddler who'd never grown out of it.

Astoria glided across the tiny kitchen with the warm plate in her hands. She placed it in front of Mahin – two sunny-side up eggs and baked beans. It wasn't breakfast as Astoria was used to, but it was heaven to deprived Mahin.

"Thank you," she said hastily before beginning to gobble up the meal. Astoria sat across from the child, watching her eat with a kind of strange admiration. She turned up the radio dial and listened carefully at the static, waiting for some message from another safe house to come through.

"Aren't you going eat?" Mahin asked in a timid voice.

"You eat," Astoria said, shaking her head. "You must be very tired from your journey."

"Oh yes," Mahin nodded. "We've been walking a lot. Navi can't apparate because I've still got the trace on me. So we must walk or take the muggle transportation, but Navi is afraid that we'll be caught on muggle cameras."

"Your sister is a smart lady," Astoria answered.

"She is very smart," Mahin continued. "Navi is going to be an auror. She was almost done training when the Death Eaters began looking for us."

"An auror?" Astoria echoed. She thought of her own sister, who'd once, several years ago, expressed a desire to be an auror as well. Of course now, with the mark on her arm, Daphne would never be an auror. "That seems quite exciting," Astoria continued, trying to hide her thoughts from the child.

"Oh it is," Mahin nodded. She raised her fork in the air and twirled it like a wand. "Someday I'll be an auror too. Navi says we're going to America, but we can still be aurors there, right?"

"Of course," Astoria replied chirpily. "They still need people to catch the bad guys in America. Though, there are fewer of them over there."

Mahin nodded sweetly and continued forking the baked beans into her mouth. She hummed a little tune to herself as she ate, swinging her short legs back and forth underneath the chair. Astoria found herself remarkably impressed with the child, so seemingly untouched by the horrors she must have already seen. She seemed so unaffected by the terror that plagued everyone else. Astoria longed for the kind of innocence Mahin still held onto, the kind of true innocence she hadn't seen in months.

Her soft humming stopped abruptly as footsteps came from the stairs. They were light, but every movement in the cabin was easy to hear, every sound echoed off the walls. Nava arrived downstairs, her hair held back by a black scarf that cascaded down her back like an extension of her dark hair. On her hip, Nava carried a small brown messenger bag, the only belonging she carried with her when she arrived at the house not 12 hours earlier. She smiled at Astoria and Mahin as she stepped into the kitchen and ruffled her younger sister's hair.

"Good morning," she said. "You're never up this early on your own Mahin."

"I smelt breakfast," she explained, her mouth full of egg.

Nava laughed and thanked Astoria for the plate of food she placed on the table. Like her sister, Nava quickly began to shovel the food into her face, having learned to savour food when she got it. Astoria leaned against the counter and watched as the two sisters ate, occasionally whispering something to each other in language she couldn't understand.

Less than an hour later though, Nava and Mahin were packed and ready to move on to the next safe house in the chain. One more move after that and they would be safely in France, then on route to America. Nava tightened her sister's cloak and cast a quick heating charm over the two of them before they left the protection of the Greengrass house Fidelius charm. Norella, Linus, Daphne, and Astoria stood in front of their latest guests, waiting to say goodbye. Daphne stared down at her feet, her right hand clasped tightly around her left arm.

"Thank you so much for your hospitality," Nava said graciously, shaking Linus and Norella's hands. "We are forever in your debt."

"Glad to be service," Linus nodded. "We hope you have a safe journey."

"Good luck," Norella wished them. She smiled kindly at Nava and Mahin, giving them the small amount of maternal love they needed.

"Goodbye," Nava said. She smiled kindly at Astoria and then finally turned to Daphne as Mahin said her thanks and goodbyes to Norella and Linus. Daphne, still staring at her feet, shuffled nervously as Nava reached her arms towards her. She didn't dare look up, for fear that Nava would see just how much she'd miss her.

"Daphne?" Nava said softly. She reached for the younger girl's face, lifting her chin gently. "I'll miss you. Goodbye."

Finally, Daphne stared up into Nava's big, hazel eyes. She gave the girl a weak smile and dropped her arms to her side. Her little grin quickly disappeared though, a sad expression spreading across her face. Daphne reached up and intertwined her fingers loosely with Nava's hand.

"I'll miss you," she replied at last, her voice barely more than a whisper. She ran her thumb over Nava's hand and bit her lip, dropping her gaze from Nava's hazel eyes again. Her hand dropped back to her side and she took a small step back.

"Goodbye."


	11. Run

Narcissa Malfoy walked down the Parisian streets with her head held high. She walked four paces behind the stout little man with the bouncing mustache. She watched him carefully, waiting for him to turn into some empty road to disapparate, waiting for her chance. He didn't suspect the beautiful blonde woman walking behind him at all. Arnaut Romilly walked casually, looked down at his pocket watch and then turned the corner into a little alleyway. Arnaut began to turn on the spot, but just as he was mid-rotation, he saw Narcissa, her wand raised in his face. There was nothing he could do.

Narcissa Malfoy looked back at the busy street she'd just left and disapparated, holding onto Arnaut's inert body tightly. They arrived at a simple motel room. The room was dark with minimal furniture. Just one queen sized bed and garish wallpaper in mustard yellow and pale pink flowers. Narcissa heaved Arnaut's heavy body onto the bed and tied him up with some rough rope. Arnaut, still unconscious, lay there was Narcissa stood in the shadows watching him.

"Lovely work, Cissy," Bellatrix drawled, stepping through the small door into the room. She turned the lights on as she walked across the small room towards Arnaut. "Watch the door," she commanded her younger sister.

Narcissa nodded and stood next to the window covered with green curtains. She peeked out into the sunshine filled streets, but no one came towards their little room. Bellatrix pulled a chair up to Arnaut's bedside and straddled it backwards, leaning her hallowed cheek on the back of the chair and playing with her wand in front of it.

Arnaut's eyes fluttered open quickly and he tried to reach up to rub them, but couldn't because of the rope that tied them to his side. He squirmed in the spot and yelled out, but found his voice muted and his bound body tied to the bed posts. His eyes filled with horror as he spotted Bellatrix at his bedside, grinning at him the way a hunter smiles at her prey.

"Nice of you to wake up, Monsieur Romilly," Bellatrix said softly. She reached her hand towards his round cheek and stroked it softly, tugging gently on his curvy mustache. Arnaut opened his mouth again to scream, but no noise came out.

"It's no fun if he can't scream," Bellatrix pouted. She pointed her wand at the motel room door. "Muffiato," she mumbled, then gave Arnaut back his voice. He screamed immediately, crying out for help, for someone to hear him, but of course, no one did. Narcissa flinched at their prisoner's howl, but Bellatrix remained unaffected.

"I've done nothing!" Arnaut cried. "What do you want with me?"

"I think you know," Bellatrix snarled. She grabbed his face tightly, gagging her with her tight grip on his jaw. He sputtered loudly and tried to squirm out of her reach, but to no avail. Bellatrix had a death grip on him and stared at him with a look that Arnaut swore could kill a man.

Of course, he recognized her face from the wanted posters that had made their way even to France a few years ago. She was the notorious Death Eater and she had surely discovered his secret. The safe house system would be weak if he died and she had to know that. How she had found him was still a mystery, Arnaut and the other secret keepers' identity were expertly hidden so they still continue their day-to-day business in France.

And in fact, he had been right. Bellatrix did not know that Arnaut Romilly was secret keeper for five safe houses. She did not know that he was the secret keeper of the Greengrass house or that he had smuggled muggleborns out of the UK along with his potions shipments. What Bellatrix did know was that the map Henry Watherson had gotten to find the safe houses from the Potterwatch people was traced back to the shipping dock where Arnaut Romilly's company docked. His and seven others, but Bellatrix wasn't really one to care about the collateral damage of killing the wrong man. She'd kill all eight of them just to figure out which one was aligned with rebels in the UK.

"Mudblood safe house network," Bellatrix growled at him. She leaned her face close up to his, still gagging him with her tight grip. She spat out the words, spraying her saliva into his face. "Do the words mean anything to you?"

Arnaut shook his head quickly. He knew this was the end for him, but if he could just get away from them for a moment to warn the houses… looking around the room though, Arnaut knew that he had been defeated. If he died, everyone who knew the secret would become the secret keeper. Any of the muggleborns who knew would be able to tell the secret to Bellatrix. Though Arnaut didn't believe any of them would willingly tell a Death Eater, the risk was too great. The secret could not be tortured out or coerced out of someone with blackmail or veritaserum, it had to be completely willingly. He could take comfort in that, just as long as Bellatrix didn't catch the person who had cast the charms, they were safe enough. As long as Bellatrix didn't find Astoria, they were safe.

"Don't lie to me," Bellatrix hissed. She shut her eyes and concentrated on Arnaut's shaking body. Once she opened them again, it was like she was in a trance. Her black eyes pierced through Arnaut's gentle brown ones, deep into his mind. She assaulted his thoughts with a sharp stab, penetrating his mind. She tried to dig through his secrets, but she hit a wall that catapulted her out again as if pushed back with a powerful spell.

"Occlumency," Bellatrix said, regaining her breath after the failed attempt at reading Arnaut's mind. "Fine."

She raised her wand and produced a small burst of red flame from the tip of her wand. The flame morphed into the shape of a slithering snake, crawling down the wand around Bellatrix's arm, somehow not burning her. Arnaut stared at the demonic snake in horror, cringing back away from the madwoman sitting in front of him.

"Who cast the spell?" Bellatrix asked. "It wasn't you, you're the secret keeper."

"I'm not a secret keeper for anything," Arnaut said, his voice shaking just a little bit. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"I think you do," Bellatrix whispered. She pointed her wand sharply and the snake flew towards Arnaut's leg, unbound by the ropes. It crawled up him slowly, turning his trousers into burning embers, black burns covering his legs. Arnaut screamed out, making Narcissa flinch again into the corner. Bellatrix, still unfazed, stared him in the eye with almost a bored expression.

"Who cast the Fidelius charm?" she asked again. "I don't like to be kept waiting."

"I'll… never… tell you!" Arnaut cried out between his screams of excruciating pain as his flesh was charred off his body by Bellatrix's ravenous fiery pet. "I won't tell you!"

The smell of burnt human flesh filled the room, Narcissa turning green in the face from the nauseating scent. She'd never seen such a horrible scene before. Arnaut's once thick leg had been reduced to black, charred almost to the bone, but still, he resisted. He didn't tell Bellatrix anything. Narcissa almost wanted to scream at him, to tell him it was foolish to hold out, that he didn't have to die, but she couldn't. Instead, she turned her head away, still looking out the crack in the curtain for any approaching people.

"I shan't ask nicely again," Bellatrix snapped. She spoke in a haughty manner, as if speaking with a misbehaving child rather than the grown man she was torturing. She fiddled her wand in her left hand, twirling it between her fingers with surprising grace. "Who cast the charm?"

Arnaut shook his head and bit down hard on his lip as she tried to hold in his scream as she fiery snake slid up his body, burning the ropes first, then his clothes, and finally bare flesh. He was barely conscious from the smoke and pain of fiendfyre, his brain starting to feel fuzzy and damned by the cursed smoke fumes. Bellatrix seemed unaffected by the smoke in the room, though her younger sister looked as if she'd vomit any minute now.

"Have it your way then," Bellatrix finally snarled. She shut her eyes once again and then stared deeply into Arnaut's almost shut ones. Again, she pierced into his mind, penetrating his thoughts, only this time, she wasn't met by resistance, instead she was met by a flood of thoughts as Arnaut passed out from the pain shooting through his whole body. Bellatrix saw it all; the muggleborns crawling through Arnaut's cargo, the trips with them to the refugee status office, the tiny girl dancing around the cabins casting her spell.

A smile spread across Bellatrix's face, as she replayed the Arnaut's memory of when the Fidelius charm was first cast. The small, dark haired girl swelled with power as she recited the incantation five times over in five different locations. Always the same girl. She had a petite figure, black hair, black eyes. She was very young and very familiar.

When Bellatrix was back in her own mind, she turned around to Narcissa, a huge grin on her pale face. She walked towards her sister, a spring in her step that wasn't there before. Completely, nonchalantly, Bellatrix aimed her wand at Arnaut, green light soaring towards his already unmoving body, killing him at last with the kind of casualness one reserved for summoning quills or cleaning spills.

"What is it?" Narcissa asked hurriedly, ignoring the newly murdered man on the bed. She stood and walked towards her sister, grabbing her arm. "What did you find out?"

"Two birds with one stone, my dear," Bellatrix nearly sang out. "Two birds, one stone!"

The Greengrass family shared a small meal with their latest guests, the Croft family. There was the mother, Katherine – a carefully built woman with wiry brown hair and rail thin face – the father, Marcus – who somehow looked small and mousy beside his also small wife – and their two sons Rory and Sam – as different from their plain parents as humanly possible, with their healthy blond hair and green eyes. Katherine and Marcus Croft were both muggleborns and had escaped from the Ministry with their two children. They were simple people, having never been involved with the rebellion before, but they needed safety for their two children that they would never be able to have under the new regime.

Astoria recognized Sam Croft from her year in school. They were never friends, but she knew of him, though he didn't recognize her. Sam had been popular at school, with lots of friends across all the houses, even though he was a Hufflepuff. He was handsome, with sandy blond hair and green eyes that glowed like emeralds, making all the girls fall for him. Even Cordelia Yaxley fancied Sam, though she never admitted it to anyone but Jenna on account of his blood status.

Of course, popular and handsome Sam had never noticed shy and quiet Astoria Greengrass. She had never spoken up in class and she never drew attention to herself outside it. Very few people outside of Slytherin house knew her name and certainly no one knew much about her, apart from Daphne and Johanna. When Sam arrived at the Greengrass safe house though, there was a quick flicker of recognition at her face. He hadn't said anything though and neither had Astoria to him.

After the meal, the Croft family retreated upstairs to the bedroom they'd share for the night. Astoria returned to her and Daphne's room as well, leaving her sister downstairs with her parents. She changed into her floral pajamas and washed up quickly. She put her long hair into two careful plaits, laid her head down, and shut her eyes. She thought about Sam and all the friends he'd had in school; the huge group of people who seemed to always follow him around, laughing and smiling with him. Astoria wondered if they knew where he was. If they knew that he was safe and going to France. Most likely, they didn't, Astoria reasoned. She remembered seeing one of his close friends, Matthew Smattings, still at Hogwarts, going about his classes with a smaller group than he used to have, but a good size nonetheless.

Astoria wondered if they missed him and if anyone missed her. Certainly not Cordelia and Jenna, probably not Pansy either. She'd know that Daphne was a traitor and probably hated her best friend now. Johanna was long gone, so there was no one else that cared. Maybe Luna Lovegood missed her presence, but Astoria doubted it. They never were friends, they hadn't even spoken before until that time in the dungeons. The only other person who Astoria could even fathom noticing her disappearance was Professor Flitwick. He likely knew about Daphne's betrayal, perhaps he believed them dead, or knew they ran away. Astoria made a mental note to contact the little man if she ever got out of this.

Downstairs, Linus, Norella, and Daphne sat around the table in silence listening to the radio soft static buzz. There had been nothing on Potterwatch that day, strange, since they usually broadcasted every day. There hadn't been any news from the other safe houses either, except to remind the Greengrasses that a muggleborn was coming in two days, the day after the Crofts were leaving. They, like Nava and Mahin, had to travel by foot because of eight-year-old Rory and 15-year-old Sam.

Despite the radio silence, the three Greengrasses still sat around the table waiting, like they did every night. An hour later, nothing came. There were still no messages, no sounds. Norella stood, she placed her mug in the sink and washed it quickly before turning back to Linus and Daphne.

"I'm going to bed now," she said. "Are you-"

CRACK.

Norella was interrupted by the loud noise coming from the forest, the sound of apparition. Her head whipped around to the window where Linus and Daphne were already running. In the darkness, the three of them could see five figures coming towards the house, wands drawn, ready for a fight.

Daphne's heart began to race when she recognized the dominating figure of Bellatrix Lestrange leading the group towards her house. Her nightmares were coming to life in front of her, the fear threatening to tear Daphne apart. She began to hyperventilate, leaning her hand against the windowsill as her Dark Mark began to burn again.

"Daphne!" Linus shouted at her. He grabbed her by both her shoulders and shook her limp figure. "Get a grip! Grab Astoria and run! Go!"

Daphne stared at her parents, wands already flying around the house casting protective enchantments to buy them some time as the Death Eaters were momentarily held off. She scrambled to the table for her own wand, fumbling slightly before grasping it in her hand. She stared back at her parents, the house shaking already as their charms began to wear off, but still, they cast more.

"Run Daphne!" Norella screamed. "TAKE ASTORIA AND RUN!"

With one glance back at her parents preparing to fight a battle they knew they'd lose, Daphne bolted up the stairs and grabbed the emergency pack sitting at the top. She flung the pack over her shoulder and began shouting down the corridor. The Croft family was up, running out of their room in their pajamas. They followed Daphne, but she didn't even see them there as she plowed through and grabbed Astoria out of her bed.

"Come on!" Daphne cried. "We have to go!"

"What's going on?" Astoria shrieked. She scrambled to grab her shoes and coat as Daphne shoved some things into the emergency pack, not even caring what she grabbed.

"We're going," Daphne said. "Come on."

She grabbed Astoria's hand and began to disapparate, but her sister pulled away. Her eyes were wide with fear and she heard the spells firing off downstairs. Out the door, Astoria saw Katherine pushing her sons into Astoria and Daphne's room, firing spells off at the Death Eaters below, blocking them from coming up. Daphne's mind flashed back to when she was at the other side of the attack, shivers running up her spine as the Dark Mark continued to burn up inside her. Her vision becoming blurred as Astoria's hair changed from black and blonde, her world flickering between the present and the past months ago. She whipped around, not seeing Mulciber like she expected, but seeing young Rory and Sam instead, staring at her with fear in their eyes, but not fear of her, fear of what was just downstairs.

"We can't leave them behind!" Astoria shrieked, snapping Daphne fully back into the present. Her sister's hair turned from blonde to black again, her features morphing back into her own instead of Johanna's.

Daphne stared at her Astoria, seeing her pleading eyes now instead of Johanna's. She looked back at Rory and Sam, only children, desperately asking to be saved. She couldn't do it again. She couldn't leave people to die again, not after Astoria asked her to save them. Not after she'd already let two children go last time. Daphne couldn't bear of the thought of Astoria looking at her with anger again. Not like the last time in forest when she'd called Daphne a monster. She couldn't do that again, she couldn't be a monster.

Daphne grabbed Astoria's hand tightly, but then reached for Sam and Rory, all of them grabbing onto bits of her as she turned on the spot. Just as Daphne disappeared, Marcus and Katherine flung themselves towards her, disappearing as well as Death Eaters finally burst up the stairs, only to find it empty.

The Greengrass sisters and Croft family appeared in a clearing with tall trees growing all around it, blocking out the stars above with a thick canopy of leaves. Daphne stumbled to her feet, staring at the crowd of people around her, including three underage children she'd just apparated with.

"Astoria," Daphne panted. She rested her hands against her knees and stared around them. "The Fidel-"

Astoria cut her off with a nod and raised her wand. She began chanting the long complicated spell Daphne remembered from all those months ago. The familiar silver swirled around the clearing, turning that one particular spot into somewhere undetectable, untraceable, even by the most powerful magic. The silver swirled all around and soon that familiar silver hurricane flew through the clearing, straight towards Daphne.

On impulse, she raised her hands, shielding herself from the oncoming magic, but it absorbed right into her, spending powerful magic running through her body. Daphne fell to her knees as she became secret keeper of the little clearing. Her body shook slightly, her eyes turning silver. Then, there was nothing again and the clearing no longer existed for anyone, except for Katherine, Marcus, Rory, Sam, Astoria, and Daphne.

"What about mum and dad?" Astoria asked quietly as Daphne picked herself up again. "We've got to go back for them."

"Tori…" Daphne shook her head solemnly, unable to look her sister in the eye, for fear that Astoria would see the fear and sadness in them. A tear began to well up inside Daphne's eyes, she shoved them away with a rough fist, then dropped the rucksack onto the frozen dirt. She pulled a tent out and flicked her wand at it. The tent pitched itself, a tiny little thing, with an orange patch on one side of it. The tent looked barely big enough for one person, let alone six.

"MUM AND DAD ARE STILL THERE!" Astoria cried. Tears flowed down her face uninhibited. She pulled at her hair as she raced towards Daphne and grabbed her hand, trying to will her sister into disapparating back to the house to rescue their parents. "WE HAVE TO SAVE THEM DAPHNE!"

Daphne shook her off roughly and turned around to her sister, tears spilling out of her own eyes, her face turning an unpleasant shade of red. The whole Croft family stared at the sisters, unsure of what to do. Katherine held Rory close to her with her other arm wrapped protectively around Sam, who was already much taller than his mother. Marcus stood by them all, watching the sisters cry.

"We can't!" Daphne screamed back at Astoria. She collapsed onto her knees, her head falling into her lap as she howled loudly. "Don't you get it Astoria? THEY'RE GONE. IT'S TOO LATE."

"No," Astoria whispered, shaking her head. Her bottom lip quivered as she brought her hand up to her mouth, biting her nails. She shook her head again and collapsed next to Daphne. She wrapped her arm around her sister and shook her with the feeble strength she could muster up. "They can't be gone, Daph! They can't be! We should have stayed! We could have fought them off!"

Daphne shook her head. She bit down on her lip hard until she could taste blood. Tucking her knees into her chest, Daphne looked back up at Astoria with a kind of broken defeat in her eyes. Astoria was reminded painfully of the last time they were hiding in the forest, she saw that same broken child right now as she had then. Daphne looked broken, feeble, fragile. Not like the warrior Astoria knew she was, but like a hurt child. A child who'd been left behind, hurt too many times.

"I saw her," Daphne breathed out. She rocked slightly on the spot, staring straight past Astoria and at the dark woods that still frightened her, as if she expected the Dark Lord himself to jump out of the thicket. "Bellatrix Lestrange," Daphne hurried through her name as if she was afraid of just saying it out loud. "I saw her! I saw her. I saw her, I saw her, I saw her…"


	12. Break

"Did I not tell you to secure the perimeter?" Bellatrix screamed. Her voice was a high pitched, growling snarl as she paced up and down the empty cabin, wringing her hands through her air, waving her wand around carelessly. Around her stood four frightened Death Eaters and Henry Watherson, all of them watching her in fear.

"DIDN'T I TELL YOU THAT THEY'D TRY TO APPARATE AWAY WITH THE GIRL?" she bellowed, her voice echoing across the entire forest floor, scaring off any wildlife that may have been there. She paced angrily, stepping over the lifeless bodies of Linus and Norella, laying there near the foot of the stairs, their last acts in life protecting their daughters.

"Bella," Lucius snapped angrily. "The other secret keepers are dead, we have access to the houses now."

"You bloody fool!" Bellatrix shouted at her brother-in-law. She pushed him roughly against the wall, kicking aside Norella's dead body as she walked towards the other Death Eaters. "We have access to one house that was under the protection of each Secret Keeper, that's five houses! The system lives on until we kill the one who cast the spell! That girl, the younger Greengrass girl, she was the one who cast the spell on five safe houses! SHE MUST DIE!"

"JOHANNA!" Daphne screamed. Her eyes were filled with passion and fury as she turned to Astoria, jumping off and floor towards her. Astoria wrapped her arms around Daphne, holding her older sister in her arms while she screamed nonsense. "Johanna, come on, we can run! I'll help you! Let's go!"

"Daphne!" Astoria shouted back. She pushed her sister into a chair and knelt in front of her, holding her hands and stroking them softly. "Daphne… please," she said softly, tears flowing out of her eyes. "It's me, Astoria. Johanna's gone. You're here with me."

Daphne's eyes darted across the cavernous tent. It had three separate bedrooms and a large sitting area with a kitchen off to the side. From the outside, it looked small and dingy, but an undetectable extension charm made it lovely and cozy on the inside. Daphne didn't see the brightly coloured tent though, she saw a dark wood cabin, lights flashing around her, and people screaming as Death Eaters stormed in. In front of her, she didn't see her dark haired younger sister, but she saw Johanna, pleading with her to save her and the toddler she held in her arms.

"Help me Daphne," Johanna said. She seemed to almost glow, the moonlight bouncing off of her blonde hair. The baby cried in her arms, his wails filling the entire room, echoing through Daphne's head.

"Make it stop!" she pleaded, covering her ears with her hands. "Please, MAKE IT STOP!"

Daphne's dropped her head into her lap and stomped her feet angrily. She screamed, trying to drown out the baby's cries still ringing through her brain. She shoved her ears over her hands as Astoria tried fruitlessly to calm her down.

Katherine Croft rushed to the girl's side, kneeling down beside Astoria and comforting screaming Daphne with soft words.

"Daphne," Katherine cooed. "You're okay. You're going to be okay. You saved us all."

She repeated the sentence over and over again, brushing Daphne's hair with her hand and letting her expend her energy screaming for the crying in her head to stop. Daphne still shook, she still screamed, but as Katherine continued, she began to slow, she began to quiet. She turned to from screaming to whispering, from shaking to sitting completely still.

"I can't save you, Johanna," Daphne mumbled softly. "I couldn't save her."

She looked up from her lap and stared around her, finally seeing the brightly coloured tent and group of people standing around her, afraid that she'd snap again, afraid that she'd break once more. Daphne's eyes flickered around the room, finally settling on Astoria's. There was concern in her sister's eyes, fear and horror and pain. Daphne reached out for Astoria's hand and grasped it tightly in hers. Katherine stood next to them, summoning a glass of water for Daphne.

"You're safe here, Daphne," Astoria said softly. She kissed her sister's hand and rubbed the back of it gently with her small fingers. "You're safe. You don't need to be afraid."

"I'm so sorry," Daphne shook her head, tears spilling out of her eyes. "I'm so sorry, Astoria. I couldn't save them, any of them."

"Shhh," Astoria said. She reached up to envelope Daphne in a hug. Her older sister seemed to fold into Astoria's embrace, disappearing into her thin arms. "It's okay now. You did everything you could. You saved us, Daphne."

Astoria stroked Daphne's hair as if she were a small child crying in her arms. Daphne shut her eyes, leaning against her sister's chest. This time though, she saw nothing and heard nothing. She didn't see Bellatrix Lestrange's evil glare, she didn't see Johanna's pleading eyes, she didn't even see Nava's inviting hazel stare. Daphne only saw emptiness. Her mind was completely blank.

"We should take her to bed," Astoria whispered to Katherine. The older woman nodded and waved her wand lifting Daphne into the air. With Astoria following close behind, she sent Daphne to one of the bedrooms, putting her on the bottom bunk of the small bed. Astoria tucked her sister into the sheets and kissed her gently on the forehead.

"Good night Daph," she whispered softly. Daphne had no response, just soft, even breathing.

Astoria and Katherine shut out the lights in the small room and drew the curtain behind them as they left Daphne alone, slumbering peacefully. Marcus had sent Rory and Sam into the other room already, coaxing his younger son into bed, while Sam sat by the door, watching Astoria and his mother tend to Daphne. When the two women came out of the bedroom again, Marcus and Sam followed after them, the four of them sitting around the small wooden table.

"She's been through a lot," Astoria explained to them, hanging her head, exhausted from the day's events. "She's broken."

"What can we do for her?" Marcus asked, looking between his wife and Astoria. "We have to help her. She saved all our lives."

Katherine shook her head, her eyes facing towards the wooden table, tracing the lines on it with her finger. "There's nothing we can do," she said. "Looks like psychosis to me, maybe PTSD. I'm a healer, but not trained in mental health. I can't help her. Has she ever had mental problems before, Astoria?"

"No," she replied quickly. "But Daphne… she's been through more than you know. It's been very hard for her this past year."

Katherine nodded and sighed deeply. "Plenty of rest, we should make sure she eats well. All we can do is keep up her physical health and insist she talks about it often. But in conditions like these, I doubt there's much we can do to help her."

Marcus nodded and stood up, taking his wife's hand. Katherine rubbed Sam's thin shoulder and looked pointedly at the bedroom, but Sam still sat there, staring into his lap. Katherine nodded to Marcus and the pair of them walked off, leaving Astoria and Sam sitting alone in the dim light around the wooden table. Astoria said nothing, she just sniffled loudly and wiped her nose on her sleeve. She turned her head towards Daphne's room and stared, unblinking at the closed curtain. Astoria tucked her knobbly knees into her chest, wrapping her arms around them and resting her head on top.

"Thank you," Sam whispered to Astoria after what seemed like ages of silence. The two teenagers could hear heavy breathing coming from the bedrooms around them as the rest of their group slumbered off. "She was going to leave us," Sam continued, looking over at Daphne's closed curtain. "You convinced her to save us, too."

"Don't worry about it," Astoria mumbled, her cheek still pressed up against her knees. Tears flowed out of her eyes, staining her cheek and pajama bottoms.

In a span of a few months, Astoria had lost everything – her school, her best friend, her home, her parents, and now it seemed that she had lost Daphne too. Her sister was losing her mind, unable to tell the difference between the past and present, blurring all her horrible memories into one. Astoria couldn't bear to think about Daphne's suffering, the pain and regret she carried inside her for what she'd done and the burn of the Dark Mark that still marred her flesh. Astoria would never know the pain her sister held onto, though she wished desperately that she could take some of it away from her.

"Astoria?" Sam said quietly. He stood and walked over to where Astoria was still curled up into her own body. He stood in front of her, leaning back on the wooden table, his hands shoved into his pockets and his hair swept messily across his eyes. Astoria peeked up towards him, blinking through her tears.

Sam was tall and lanky, he hadn't quite grown into his height, but his arms had the first hints of adulthood muscles. Looking at him now though, Astoria couldn't see the popular, attractive boy she'd known in school, Sam, as she saw him now, was tired, worn out, and afraid. He looked shy and quiet, not talkative and loud as he had once been.

Tentatively, Sam reached towards Astoria's shoulder and dropped his hand onto it. The weight of his arm pushed down on her. The touch was awkward and strange, as if Sam just didn't know what he was doing. "She'll be okay," Sam said, scratching behind his ear with his other hand. Astoria blinked at him, not knowing what to say. He pulled his hand away from her shoulder quickly and stashed it back inside the pocket of his plaid pajama bottoms. "Daphne… she's going to be okay, I just know it."

"Right," Astoria nodded slowly, chewing over the words before she said them. "I'm sure she is. She's very strong."

Sam gave her a weak smile, lifting just one corner of his mouth, revealing a dimple in his cheek. The dimples were something Astoria had never noticed before, they were subtle, but there. His smile quickly disappeared again though and before Astoria could say anything else, he was already hurrying back to the room where his younger brother slept soundly, leaving Astoria alone. Before Sam slipped behind the curtain though, he turned back towards Astoria. She looked up from her knees at him, waiting for him to say something. Sam opened his mouth, but nothing came out. Astoria waited.

"I… um… goodnight, Astoria," he said finally. Sam blushed bright pink before hastily disappearing behind the tan coloured curtain.

Finally alone, Astoria buried her head into her knees and shut her eyes, blinking away the tears that couldn't be stopped now. The memories of the past year plagued her mind, each one replaying in slow motion as Astoria went over each of the horrifying details, over and over and over again. She could hear her mother and father's shouts from downstairs in the cabin as the Death Eaters arrived, she replayed watching Alecto Carrow torture Daphne, she saw herself in the forest again with her sister, finding out about the Dark Mark. All these horrifying days in her life came together, haunting her. Slowly though, Astoria managed to fall into a deep sleep, sitting right there on the wooden chair with the little lantern still burning brightly around her. As she fell asleep, her memories began to fade back into her mind and she was at peace again.

The next morning, Astoria woke bright and early before anyone else, her neck and back crying out in pain from having slept curled up on an upright wooden chair. She stretched herself out in an almost unnatural way before digging around the tent and emergency bag for some provisions. Inside the plain, dark green bag, there was a box of cheap Earl Grey tea, a few tins of baked beans, a few tins of sausage, and empty water bottles. It wasn't a lot, but Astoria could make do with it.

She multiplied all the canned foods and tossed as many as she could into the tent's cupboards. The bag didn't have any cooking tools in it, so Astoria quickly transfigured a can into a working metal plate. She placed the plate over a fire and quickly heated up the beans and sausage. Nothing smelt very appetizing, but it was what they had. Astoria made a mental note to go scavenging for some fruit or vegetables later, realizing that they couldn't last long on beans and sausage.

The scent and food and hot tea woke up the rest of the camp. They climbed out of bed, one by one, starting with Rory who bounced through the tent and sat down, waiting for Astoria to give him something. She conjured a plastic plate for him and slid on a small portion of beans and sausage. Rory gobbled it all up, not caring about the metallic taste or burnt edges.

As the rest of the Croft family woke, Astoria conjured more plates and mugs and forks for them as they all dug into their breakfast. Astoria skipped the meal, instead drinking three mugs of Earl Grey with copious amount of sugar.

"We should send a patronus over to Potterwatch today," Astoria said. She blew across her mug of tea, cooling it just a little bit. "We should let them know what's happened with us and they might be able to help. Can either of you cast the patronus, I can, but mine is rather conspicuous and I think we'd be better off with a small patronus."

"I can, mine's a house cat," Katherine said. "Small enough, you think?"

"Daphne's is a butterfly," Astoria sighed. She stirred her hot tea with her pinky finger, barely feeling the heat on her skin. "But a cat will do fine."

Katherine nodded and picked up her wand off the table. She mumbled the spell under her breath and conjured a small, silver kitten, barely bigger than Astoria's forearm. The silvery cat glided through the air towards its owner. Katherine leaned into one of its ephemeral ears.

"Tell the Potterwatch people that the Greengrass house has been attacked. Linus and Norella Greengrass are dead and the Croft family along with Astoria and Daphne are on the run," Katherine whispered into the cat's ear. As she finished her message, the cat disappeared into a small storm of silver, converging into a single, silvery speck.

Only moments later, a lynx appeared in the tent as they all sat around in silence waiting. The lynx spoke in a smooth, deep voice that was almost thundering.

"Secret Keepers missing, presumed dead," the voice said. "System down. Stay hidden."

Astoria's mouth fell open hearing the message. The safe house system that had helped so many people, the system that housed Johanna and Nava and Mahin, was over, it was gone. The system her parents helped to build was destroyed and it was all because of Bellatrix Lestrange. Astoria had lost so much because of Bellatrix Lestrange. That woman had taken Daphne's sanity, her best friend, her parents. Bellatrix Lestrange had cost Astoria everything. She felt the anger boil inside of her, threatening to spill out, making her explode. For a moment there, Astoria felt all the rage and fear Daphne carried inside her at the mention of Bellatrix's name. For a second, she understood what it meant to truly want revenge.

"T-tori," a voice croaked from deep inside the tent. Astoria snapped her neck up towards Daphne's corner of the tent and jumped out of her seat. She rushed towards her sister's room, nearly knocking over a lamp as she hurried over. Daphne was awake, leaning on her elbows in the bottom bunk, rubbing her eyes and stretching as much as she could in the cramped bunk bed.

"Wha… what happened yesterday?" she mumbled with a yawn.

"You don't remember?" Astoria breathed out, her face falling, unsure of how to explain the past day's events to her sister. She could barely repeat them back to herself, let alone another person.

"I remember… _she_ came," Daphne bit her lip at the mention, her chin quivering in fear of just saying the name of Bellatrix Lestrange. Astoria felt the anger burst up inside of her again, fury pouring into the memory of the notorious Death Eater. Astoria became desperate for revenge in that moment, desperate to get some kind of justice against the woman who'd hurt her and her family so much.

"That's right," Astoria whispered, none of her anger present in her voice. "What else do you remember?"

"Mum and dad…" Daphne began, but she couldn't finish. She shut her eyes tightly again, tears spilling out. Astoria wrapped her arm around her sister, rubbing her back comfortingly while the memories assaulted Daphne's mind.

"They're gone," Astoria finished the sentence for her sister, saying it aloud as much for Daphne as it was to for herself.

"I remember… she came and they told me to run and I found you and that family…" Daphne said, her speech becoming quicker and quicker until Astoria could barely comprehend what she was saying. Not once did Daphne become tongue tied though, she just kept speaking. "And I disapparated, but you made me stop and we got those two boys and the parents were here and you wanted to go back for mum and dad, but Tori, I saw them, I saw them start to fight and no one wins against Bellatrix, it's just a rule, Tori, because Bellatrix is unbeatable and I would know that because she broke me, Bellatrix Lestrange BROKE ME."

Daphne's chest moved up and down as she spoke, her breathing becoming erratic around her fast speech. Her eyes became empty as she spoke, losing all the light, going into panic, darting around the room, searching for some invisible threat. Cold sweats broke out across her forehead as Astoria tucked her older sister into her chest.

"Shhh," Astoria said softly. "Shh… you're safe here, Daphne."

"She broke me, Astoria," Daphne said again, her voice trembling and tears spilling down her cheeks. "She broke me."


	13. Learn

p class="MsoNormal"Astoria sat outside the tent, on the stump of what must have once been a magnificently tall tree, pointing her wand at the dirty dishes on the grass beside her. A steady stream of water came out as she rinsed them all off, trying to get the grime off without any dish soap. It was early in the morning, just after dawn. The birds chirped invisible in the trees as sunrise glow washed over them./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Need any help?" Sam asked, emerging from the tent. He had his hands shoved in his pockets like he usually did, hair swept across his green eyes. He pulled his wand out and rolled up his jumper sleeves./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Sure," Astoria said quietly. She moved over on the stump, making room for him to sit next to her. Their bodies had to touch on the small stump, Astoria's elbow bumping into his torso./p  
p class="MsoNormal""You'll have to teach me that spell though," he admitted. "I don't know how to conjure water."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Aguamenti," Astoria said, enunciating each syllable slowly for him. "It's quite easy. Just point your wand and say the spell."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Aguamenti!" Sam shouted pointing his wand at the dirt. Instead of the steady stream of water that burst out of Astoria's wand, nothing happened. "What'd I do wrong this time?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal""You've said the spell wrong," she explained kindly. "Ah-gua-men-tee."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"He repeated it again, enunciating slowly as Astoria instructed. A tiny sputter of water appeared, not enough to be of any use, but better than he'd ever done before. A look of pure joy spread across Sam's face as he jumped up, pointing at the puddle at his feet./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Did you see that?" he cried. "I've done it!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Good job," Astoria said, in the dull voice she'd been using ever since they arrived in the forest days ago. Her voice no longer had its usual ring, that hint of sweetness and kindness it usually had. Astoria was dull now, monotone. She tucked a strand of black hair behind her ears and picked up her own wand again, pointing it back at her dishes, once again ignoring Sam's presence./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Not as good as yours," Sam noted, staring at the steady, clear stream of water. "But I'll work on it."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""I'm sure you'll get it right soon," she said, still focusing her eyes on the spot of grease on the tin plate./p  
p class="MsoNormal""You know, you're a great teacher," Sam said. "Thanks. I never was really good at charms. Or anything else at school."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""You'll get it," Astoria said softly before getting up off the stump. She crouched down on the grass and scooped up her blue cloth with the tin plates inside it. They clanked around a little inside as Astoria walked back towards the tent./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Sam followed her as she went in. Watching as, with a flick of her wand, the plates put themselves away on the makeshift shelves. The household spells were easy for Astoria, having perfected them years ago over the summers and Christmas breaks with her mother./p  
p class="MsoNormal""You're really good at magic," Sam watched in awe as things began to clean themselves up and put themselves away around the tent. "Who taught you all this?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Um, my mother," Astoria said softly. She stared down at her feet, blinking fast before she stood up straight again, directing things around the tent with her wand. A straight expression was on her face, but a lump formed in her throat. Sam blushed bright red, embarrassed for asking after noting her reaction. He felt dumb for asking, obviously it was her mother./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I'm sorry," he mumbled quickly. Astoria waved away his apology quickly with her hand, still not looking him in the eye for fear that he'd see her cry. She couldn't afford to break down. Astoria couldn't afford to have any moment of weakness anymore. Not when Daphne still screamed in the night because of her terrible dreams, not when her sister still hallucinated scenes of torture and murder, not when Daphne need her. Astoria could not be weak./p  
p class="MsoNormal"She turned her back to Sam and straightened a row of beans on the shelf. It was all they had from the emergency pack, but they'd been able to supplement their diet with things they found in the forest – fish from the nearby stream, berries from the forest, anything they could scavenge. Things like that were kept cool with charms and then stored in the ice box./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Do you… do you want to talk about it?" Sam asked her slowly. He held his hands behind his back, nervously rocking on his blue trainers. Astoria stopped, her hand still wrapped around a tin of beans, she dropped her head down. She stared at the wooden countertop, drumming her fingers lightly on top. Her nails were bitten short, the nerves drove her to it. She bit her lip, trying to hold herself together for the sake of the whole group./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I'm fine," she finally said, breathlessly and quickly. A single tear fell onto the wood countertop, leaving a circular stain beside Astoria's hand./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Are you sure?" Sam asked again, his voice closer to Astoria now. She could almost feel him standing behind her./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Astoria rubbed the back of her hand quickly over her eyes, wiping the tears from her eyes before they had another chance to spill out. She whipped around quickly, her black braid almost hitting him in the face. Her nostrils flared as she glared up at him, her body still leaning back against the countertop, staying as far from him as she could./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I'm fine," she said again, her words cutting this time. "I'm perfectly fine."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"She walked away from Sam again, this time towards the little flap in the tent, inside the room where Daphne slept soundly, or so she thought. Astoria huffed loudly as she entered, falling in the least graceful method onto the squashy armchair. Daphne sat up in the darkness of the bottom bunk, her head facing slightly down so as to not hit it on the top bunk./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Hey Tori," she said in a groggy voice, like she'd just gotten up./p  
p class="MsoNormal""How are you feeling Daph?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Fine," Daphne said. Her knees were pulled into her chest. Daphne was thinner than she'd ever been, still strong looking physically, but her legs were thin and you could almost make out her ribcage sometimes. Astoria knew it was because of their terrible diet, but she had nothing else she could give to Daphne. She'd already mixed what vitamins and health potions she could find in the emergency pack into her older sister's food, but still, Daphne's physical health deteriorated with her mental health./p  
p class="MsoNormal""You should rest, Daph," Astoria said. She stood up again, brushing non-existent dust off her lap. She took the two steps towards Daphne's little bed and reached for her sister's blanket to tuck her in./p  
p class="MsoNormal""You look like you need some rest," Daphne said. She still sat there, knees pulled into her chest, refusing to lie back down. "I'm fine, but you need rest. You've been pushing yourself so hard, trying to do everything for me."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Daph, you've got to rest to recover," Astoria frowned. Daphne right hand was clutched tightly around her left forearm, like it often was. She spoke through gritted teeth. "Does it burn?" she asked in a low whisper, remembering how easily sound travelling around the tent./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I'm okay Tori. I'm doing better," Daphne smiled a weak grin at her sister, not flashing any teeth. "It feels fine. Nothing I can't handle. I feel better too, sort of. No more hallucinations – most of the time. The nightmares are recurring, but they're less bad now. I just worry about you."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Me?" Astoria sat down in the small space next to Daphne, her pink track bottom-covered legs sprawled out in front of her. "I'm okay Daph."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""No," Daphne shook her head. "You need to relax. Maybe have fun. Or you know… that boy is right. You should talk about it."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""I'm fine Daphne."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""But you're not."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"~/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Bellatrix Lestrange marched up and down Malfoy Manor with her arms crossed over her chest. She drawing room was still a mess, the chandelier destroyed on the floor and other precious Malfoy ornaments smashed. Narcissa sat up in her bedroom, staring at the wall unable to come down the face the rest of them. Bellatrix though, was fuming./p  
p class="MsoNormal"First the Greengrass girls, then Harry Potter. They'd both slipped through her fingers and she'd faced the punishment for her incompetence both times. Three days had passed since Harry Potter had escaped with the others, but Bellatrix still felt anger boiling inside of her when she thought about the defeat. Bested by a house elf. The only solace she had was the hope that her knife had hit someone./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Draco!" Bellatrix bellowed through the manor. Her voice echoed off the walls, ringing through the entire house./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Do not treat my son like that!" Lucius snapped, appearing suddenly out of the study. He glared at his sister-in-law angrily./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I will do what I want!" Bellatrix snarled back. "You lost your power the moment you went to Azkaban."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Lucius shot an icy glare back at her before retreating back to the study, his cloak sweeping along the floor and his footsteps heavy. Lighter steps came from the staircase as Draco ran down to meet his aunt. He wore the usual dark suit, but his skin was somehow even paler than usual. He was sallow, with dark circles around his eyes and a gash on his cheek./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Yes Aunt Bella?" he said. Draco's eyes didn't meet Bellatrix's, instead, he stared at his feet in their dragonhide shoes./p  
p class="MsoNormal""The Greengrass girl," Bellatrix snapped. "Cissy says you were an acquaintance of hers?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Draco swallowed hard and bit his thin lip. He'd been close to Daphne Greengrass in school, always finding her much more tolerable than Pansy Parkinson. They hadn't been the closest of friends, but Draco had always liked her. She wasn't a person of many words, never one to gossip about his life, but always there listen to him talk. He hadn't spoken her since the end of sixth year, but he knew that she had joined the ranks of Death Eaters as well and then defected. He saw her at school for the first few months, but then, she was gone. That was common knowledge nowadays though with Daphne's picture plastered everywhere with 'WANTED' written underneath in bold red./p  
p class="MsoNormal"He'd felt pity for her when he found out from Pansy that she'd become a Death Eater. That school year, he hadn't much participated in school activities, finding himself out of the castle most of the time to help his parents and aunt do their bidding for the Dark Lord. But when he discovered that his old friend was recruited as well, Draco couldn't help but feel sorry for Daphne Greengrass. He kept tabs on her, watching as she disappeared from the castle for days at a time to go on some mission. Each time she returned to the Slytherin common room, Draco saw that she was visibly shaken, distressed by what she'd done. It broke her down little by little, just as it had done for him. He knew the feeling well. Each time he had to don those robes or look at the mark burned onto his skin, a little part of him withered up and died. A little part of his soul disappeared, making his mind turn into this fragmented thing, tormenting him as Draco knew it would for the rest of his life./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I didn't know her that well," Draco lied, mostly mumbling. He still couldn't look Bellatrix in the eye. He could feel his aunt trying to pierce his mind, but Draco built his walls up around his mind, fiercely blocking her out of his school memories – days spent with Daphne and Pansy and Blaise, lounging around the lake without a care before the war hit them all. He wished he could go back to that simpler time, that they could all go back, but he'd made his choices and Daphne had made hers. They were condemned to this life./p  
p class="MsoNormal""The traitor is still at large," Bellatrix spat out. "And her younger sister cast the Fidelius charm on the safe houses. They're still protected."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Draco barely remembered Daphne's younger sister. He wasn't sure of her name or what she even looked like, but remembered when Daphne or Pansy would mention that they'd seen her or were going to go see her. It was common knowledge at Hogwarts that Daphne had been tortured by the Carrows for trying to protect her sister from them, but still, Draco couldn't remember a single thing about the younger Greengrass girl. Her name began with an 'A' that Draco was sure of, but nothing else about her came to mind. He assumed that she must be a remarkable witch though to have performed the Fidelius charm./p  
p class="MsoNormal""And what do you want me to do about this?" Draco drawled in his best uninterested voice, trying not to let his aunt know what he really thought about Daphne Greengrass./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Find out how they escaped the school," Bellatrix commanded him. "Then find them. I don't care what you do, write her letter or something. Ask for her help. Tell her you want to run away too."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""I don't think asking Daphne for help will do any good," Draco resisted the urge to roll his eyes at the suggestion. "Daphne Greengrass doesn't trust anyone."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Earn her trust then."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"~/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Astoria and Sam stood outside waiting as Marcus and Katherine fought in hushed whispers across the clearing behind the tent. Sam clutched his wand nervously, sweating a little even though the air was crisp and cool. Astoria stood silently next to him, her eyes wandering around the forest following the robin as it flew from tree to tree./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I'm sorry Astoria, you know, for earlier," Sam said suddenly, turning towards her. It was mid-afternoon now, the sun shone directly above their heads, but still, clouds filled the sky, making the day overcast and grey./p  
p class="MsoNormal""It's fine," she said in a hushed tone./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Sam opened his mouth as if to say something else, but shut it again and let Astoria back into her own world. He felt guilty for pushing her to talk earlier, but still, he desperately wanted to know more about her. He'd never paid attention to Astoria Greengrass in school – the quiet girl who sat alone and read most of the time – but now there was just something to fascinating about her. He was guilty though, not just for earlier, but for ignoring her the five years they'd gone to school together./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Astoria stood a few feet from him now, staring up at the trees and watching the birds. She looked peaceful, but still there was a look of unhappiness and pain on her face. She'd lost so much in the span of a week, but still, there was an immutable spirit to her./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The forest was silent as Katherine and Marcus stopped arguing and made their way over to the children, ending their strange silence as well./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Let's get started here then," Katherine said. She whipped her wand out from inside her sleeve and pointed it at the stump Astoria was sitting on before. She blasted it loudly, blowing a large hole in the side of it. Bits of wood flew towards the four of them, one piece hitting Sam in the middle of the forehead./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Ow!" he said, rubbing the spot where a red mark was forming. Katherine rushed towards him, saying flurried apologies as she pointed his wand at his head. The red mark disappeared, fading back into nothing./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Might as well teach you kids some healing magic too," Katherine mused. "So that was bombardo. I reckon you haven't learnt that one yet in school."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""I learnt a few in DA a couple years ago," Sam said. "Harry Potter taught us."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""And the Carrows taught me some real dark magic," Astoria mumbled, not looking anyone in the eye, staring instead at her white trainers instead./p  
p class="MsoNormal""See, they know a lot more than we thought," Marcus pointed out to his wife./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Alright fine," Katherine huffed. "Do either of you know how to heal this?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal"She pointed at the swelling red lump on Sam's head, he rubbed it with his hand as it grew bigger and bigger. Astoria peered up at the red spot and bit her lip./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I think so," she said slowly./p  
p class="MsoNormal"From across the clearing, Daphne and Rory sat at the mouth of the tent, watching the three of them practice their spells. They could barely hear the conversation, but still Daphne and Rory watched. Rory sat on the floor, holding a stick pulled from a low-hanging tree. Daphne sat on a little stool, her own wand stashed in her pocket, not even noticing the child sitting at her feet watching the same scene./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Bigger flourish," Daphne mumbled to herself. She watched as Astoria shot a blast of wind tornado winds at Katherine's shield charm. The older woman struggled to push back against the powerful spell, but still, Daphne could see the spot where it could be improved. If Bellatrix Lestrange and the Carrows had taught her one thing, it was how to cause maximum destruction./p  
p class="MsoNormal""What was that?" Rory asked her, looking up at Daphne with big eyes. He held the stick in his right hand like a wand and waited for Daphne to respond. She stared down at him, not knowing what to say to the child./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Huh?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal""What'd you just say?" Rory asked again. "What's Tori got to do?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Oh… um," Daphne looked perplexed at the child's question. "She needs to make a bigger flourish. The spell will be stronger then."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Like this?" Rory moved his arm in a big sloppy circle around his head and shouted a jumble of made up words out loud. He pointed the stick at the sofa back inside the tent and made a loud whooshing noise, blowing as hard as he could./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Um, kind of," Daphne said hesitantly. "But you want your wandwork to be more graceful."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"She showed him how to do it properly with his little stick and watched as Rory began to run around the tent waving his pretend wand and chanting different made up spells out loud. He hopped up on the furniture, fighting off some imaginary bad guy. Daphne watched as the child bounced off the walls, shouting to himself./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Don't worry Daphne!" Rory yelled at her, sliding to a halt in front of her seat. He stood, crouched down a little, his wooden stick in duelling position. "I'll protect you from the Death Eaters!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Rory jumped back, rolling onto his back at the force of some imaginary Death Eater's spell. He picked himself off the grass, green stains on his knees already and began running through the rest of the clearing, even making Katherine, Marcus, Sam, and Rory stop their lesson to watch him run around./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Rory, stay inside the clearing!" Katherine called. Rory yelled back some jumbled agreement, but still kept running about, jumping off the stump, skidding around on the grass, and bursting through the tent. Daphne watched in wonderment, amazed at the child's unending energy and enthusiasm for his little game./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Astoria," Rory said running up to her and skidding to a stop, panting just a little bit. He took her hand and held it in his, they were almost the same size, hers only a tiny bit bigger. "You're very pretty. My brother said so a few days ago."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Shut up, you twat!" Sam scowled at his brother and grabbed his thin shoulders, pushing him away from Astoria. He was bright red in the face and looking everywhere except at Astoria. She too was blushing bright pink, biting her lip, not quite sure what to say. "I never said that," Sam mumbled. "I mean… not that you aren't pretty… but I… um…"/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Astoria didn't say anything in response, staring down at her white trainers instead, clutching her wand tightly. She had a little smile on her face, perhaps the first smile in ages, at the awkward compliment. Daphne sat at the edge of the tent, just hearing the exchange that had just gone down. She couldn't help but let out a choked laugh, trying not to let the pair of them hear her./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Of course, Sam and Astoria did hear. The two of them whipped around to see Daphne bent over laughing, her hand across her waist, the first smile she'd cracked in ages across her lips. Forgetting all the awkwardness that had just transpired, a huge grin spread across Astoria's face, watching her sister laugh for the first time in more months than she cared to remember./p  
p class="MsoNormal""You're laughing Daph," Astoria said incredulously. Her eyes were wide as the once embarrassed flush turned into a full grin as she stared at her laughing sister./p  
p class="MsoNormal""How could I not laugh?" Daphne breathed out between chuckles. "You two are so weird together."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Shut up," Astoria scowled playfully at her sister. She walked over to Daphne in the tent and hit her gently on the arm. "Have you been spying?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal""I'm just observing," Daphne said innocently./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Daphne's been teaching me spells too!" Rory declared from a few feet behind the sisters. He galloped up to them waving his stick high above his head shouting nonsense at them all. "Look what I can do!"/p 


	14. Panic

Astoria sat on the edge of the bottom bunk and braided her long hair into one think plait. She pulled out a pair of yellow pajamas next and laid them on the chair for her to change into after a quick wash. It wasn't terribly late yet, but Astoria was already exhausted. They'd spent the day scouring the countryside for any food and once again practicing defensive spells. They'd been in hiding now for nearly a month and hadn't heard anything from the other safe houses. They should have still been under protection of the Fidelius Charm, but Astoria wasn't entirely sure at all what was going on outside the confines of her little piece of forest. She never listened to Potterwatch anymore, preferring instead to push out the sounds of their droning voices.

Daphne was across the room putting away first aid supplies inside the emergency pack. Luckily, they hadn't needed the little vials of potions and dittany that were inside yet. Anything small Katherine could heal right away and nothing worse than a few cuts and bruises had happened yet. Daphne still took careful care of the healing supplies, taking stock of them every once in a while and making sure they all had their place inside the emergency pack and were accounted for. She lifted a bottle of dittany to her eye level and rubbed a speck of dirt off the label with her right sleeve.

CRASH.

The glass bottle fell to the floor and shattered, spilling the dittany everywhere. Daphne dropped to the floor as well, a searing burn racing through her entire body starting in her left forearm. She was used to the burning pain of the Dark Mark now, but somehow, this time was different. This time, the pain left her incapacitated on the floor and she could almost hear _his_ voice calling for her again and again.

"Daphne!" Astoria cried and raced towards her sister. Daphne stood though before Astoria reached her, leaning her weight against the metal table. She breathed deeply and clutched her wand in her right hand.

"I have to go," Daphne said breathlessly. Sweat had broken out across her forehead and she bit her lip to somehow suppress the pain that ripped through her.

"Where are you going?" Astoria asked with a concerned expression across her face. She had her hand clamped down over Daphne's holding her wand down as well.

"I just need some time," Daphne said through gritted teeth. She could hear his voice so loudly, so clearly in her head that he seemed to be right there with her. Daphne's eyes even darted around the room, as if she were searching for someone. "Please."

Astoria slowly let Daphne go. Before she could say anything else though, Daphne had already darted out of the tent and into the clearing. Astoria peered out the tent window and saw her sister sitting there in the dark on the stump, her head buried in her hands. Her whole body shook and Daphne could see the wand in her hand burn red at the tip for a moment before going out again. Astoria raced out of the tent towards her sister, realization striking through her.

"You can't go," Astoria said as she approached Daphne. In the dark, she had her wand pointed at her sister under her long sleeve, but Daphne couldn't see that. "I don't know where they want you to go and I don't know why, but I do know that they will kill you, Daphne."

"I won't go," Daphne mumbled under her breath.

"Promise me you won't go," Astoria said. She held out her hand towards Daphne. "Give me your wand."

Daphne handed it over without a fight and stood up again. The burning in her arm had stopped. It was sooner than usual, they normally tried for longer with her, but this time he'd given up. Maybe for good, Daphne hoped. But she had more sense than to hope for something that would never happen. For as long as the Dark Lord lived, Daphne would never be free from his hold.

Inside the tent, she slumped down onto one of the down onto one of the benches. Astoria fixed up a pot of tea and offered it around the tent, even remembering to bring a smaller cup for Rory's tea. She sat across from Daphne as she finished her rounds and sipped on her own hot tea quietly.

"The coin burned!" Sam shouted suddenly from across the tent. He jumped out of his chair with the coin clutched between his hands. Everyone looked over at him with a perplexed expression on their faces.

"What coin?" Marcus asked his son.

Sam opened his palm to show a golden galleon. The coin looked like any other, nothing special about it at all. But Sam still stared at them expectantly.

"The DA coin!" he cried. He held it up close to his face and squinted at the serial number on it. Astoria and Daphne knew that DA stood for Dumbledore's Army, but they still didn't see what the galleon had to do with it. "Fight at Hogwarts…" Sam said slowly, reading it off the tiny coin. "Meet at the Hogs Head!"

Their eyes all went wide at Sam's announcement. He stared back and forth between them all, waiting for someone to say something. Rory ignored the talk, electing instead to return to his room to play with the rocks and twigs he'd gathered in the last month in the tent. Astoria looked back at her sister and bit her lip. This fight, she assumed, must be what the Dark Mark burned for too.

"They're going to take back the castle," Daphne finally breathed. Already, she was standing again and looking down at her left arm, thinking the exact same thing as Astoria.

"Then we have to go," Sam exclaimed. He tucked the coin into his pocket and grabbed his wand off the table next to him. "We have to help them."

"You won't go anywhere," Katherine, who'd been quiet the whole time, suddenly snapped. She ripped the wand back out of Sam's hand. "You're underage."

He sulked a bit and sat back down in his chair, arms crossed over his chest. Sam grumbled something about missing the action, but otherwise, didn't talk back to his mother.

"I'm going," Daphne said suddenly. She hurried around the table to where Astoria had left her wand on the kitchen counter. "I'll be back," she said, with a little hesitation. She began to turn on the spot, but Astoria, coming to her senses after the shock grabbed her sister's arm tightly.

"You promised you wouldn't go," Astoria said sharply. She held onto Daphne tightly and pointed her wand at her sister, a terrifying expression on her face. "You can't go."

"Tori!" Daphne cried as she fought back against her. She tried to yank her arm out of Astoria's grip, but couldn't. Somehow, Astoria's strength had tripled in a second, or perhaps, Daphne thought, she had just become much weaker. "I can't just sit around and wait!"

"You're going to wait," Astoria commanded her with more authority in her voice than ever before. "You won't go. I won't let you."

Daphne stopped struggling against Astoria and leaned back against the kitchen counter. She bit her bottom lip and sighed. "She'll be there," Daphne whispered. "She'll be there and I could find her. She took everything away from us, Astoria. Everything!"

Astoria shook her head again. She loosened her grip on her sister and instead held her hands gently. She rubbed the backs of Daphne's palms and gave her a weak smile. "And I'm not going to let her take the last person I have left."

"You're assuming I'll lose," Daphne almost smiled at Astoria, but it was a pained smile, a smile as thick tears welled up in Daphne's eyes.

"No one wins against Bellatrix Lestrange."

"She killed them," Daphne shook her head. "They're dead because of her. And she did this," Daphne down at her forearm. "She did this to me."

"And killing her won't change any of that," Astoria whispered back quickly.

"I'm so sorry, Astoria," Daphne shook her head slowly and gave her sister a little half smile. She reached forward and kissed her softly on the forehead, simultaneously as her wand pointed at Astoria's torso. The younger girl was blasted back away from her sister a few feet, her wand flying out of her hand.

"I'll have my revenge," Daphne gave Astoria one last look as she disapparated with a loud crack. Astoria scrambled to the spot where Daphne disappeared from, still screaming her name.

"DAPHNE!" Astoria cried, still on the floor an expression of pure agony on her face as the sight of her sister disappearing again and again replayed in her mind. Her screamed turned into cries, turned into sobs as she lay on the floor of the tent, crying fruitlessly for Daphne's return. Katherine picked up the small girl and set her down on the sofa, bringing her hot tea to her.

"Shhh," Katherine rubbed Astoria's back gently and held her in her motherly arms. Astoria's chest heaved as she sobbed harder and harder. The whole was crashing down around her. She'd lost her parents and now she'd lose her sister too.

"Please Astoria," Katherine said again. "It'll be okay. Marcus is going to go bring her back. It'll be okay."

Astoria sobs slowed as they turned into sniffles. She looked up at Katherine through her blurry veil of tears. She wiped them from her eyes as she heard the distinctive crack of another person disapparating from the tent. She looked up at Katherine, her lip still quivering.

"She'll be back?"

"I promise."

By the time Daphne arrived at the Hogs Head, the pub was already empty and she could see the lights and explosions at the castle already. The sky filled with the blinding lights of duels and all she could hear was the castle collapsing and people shouting. Trying her luck, Daphne disapparated straight into the castle. It worked as Daphne found herself in the Great Hall, but it didn't look like the hall as Daphne knew it. The walls had collapsed around her and all over, people duelled and fell and fought. People from both sides – hooded Death Eaters and uniform wearing students. Only a handful of adults fought against the Death Eaters, and even then, most weren't over 20.

Daphne raised her wand and began to run, searching around the castle for the familiar black haired woman with the cackling laugh. She couldn't make it far though without some spell whizzing past her head, without firing a shield charm or blasting a robed Death Eater back from a student. She jumped over piles of rubble, weaving her way around fallen bodies from both sides.

"DAPHNE!" a voice thundered from behind her. Daphne whipped her head around and dropped to the ground just as a beam of green light whizzed over her head. Vincent Crabbe sauntered towards her as she was down, his wand poised to strike again.

"You're a filthy blood traitor!" Crabbe snarled at her. He prepared to strike again with another killing curse, but Daphne's hand, even in her weakened state, was faster than his. He was blasted back 10 feet from Daphne into a pile of rocks. His face opened up in a bloody gash, but Crabbe just wiped it away with his hand and was back on his face. He was coming for Daphne if it was the last thing he did.

Daphne blocked his cruciatus curse with a swipe of her wand and sent her own speeding towards him. Sweat began to trickle down her own forehead as she fought, but still, Daphne held her spell against Crabbe's screaming body. She didn't have time for theatrics here though, so the spell broke again after just a few seconds.

"Get out of my way Crabbe," Daphne breathed heavily, crouching like a tiger ready to strike. Crabbe stood, shaking on his knees, but with still that look of pure disgust on his face. He raised his wand at her again.

"Avada kedavra!" Crabbe screamed. The green light once again missed Daphne by in inch, but she was angry now. Crabbe was getting in her way, more than that, he was going to hurt other people. He didn't deserve another chance for her. He didn't deserve a chance from anyone.

"Avada – " Daphne began the spell, but she was soon interrupted by an hand on her wand arm, just as she had the first time she'd tried this particular spell. Whoever grabbed her fired a spell at Crabbe, catapulting him back in the air again and out of Daphne's line of sight.

"Daphne!" a man's voice called at her. He had to yell, despite being right beside her, for her to hear him over the sounds of battle. "Let's go! We have to go!"

Marcus Croft pulled on her arm, urging her to follow him out of the castle. Daphne pushed away from him and stood firmly in the castle.

"I won't go!" she yelled back, as if she were a normal teenager throwing an ultimatum at her father. "I have to find Bellatrix!"

"Revenge doesn't bring them back!" Marcus yelled back at her. The yelled back and forth at each other in the midst of the fight, their wands raised the whole time, deflecting curses and hexes as they did. "This is a suicide mission!" Marcus accused her.

"So what?" Daphne screamed back. She stormed down the Great Hall, towards the Hogwarts' corridors as she realized that Bellatrix wasn't there. "She destroyed every piece of me!" Daphne cried, emotion coursing through her as she remembered what Bellatrix had done to her. She'd never spoken to anyone about the 'training' she underwent before seeing the Dark Lord with Bellatrix. She'd never told her parents, not Astoria, not anyone.

"You don't think Astoria feels this way?" Marcus countered. He reached for her wrist again, but she still managed to avoid his grasp. "You don't think she'd like to see Bellatrix dead?"

"You just don't understand!" Daphne whipped around and screamed, her voice beginning to crack a little. "She did things to me… she hurt me."

"Tell me then!"

Daphne hesitated as she reached for her sleeve. They were in the corridor now, away from the main fight, but still, it raged on around them. "She made me do things," Daphne said slowly and much softer. Marcus could barely hear her voice over the din. "She turned me into a monster."

Her hands gripped tightly around her sleeve as she pulled it up slowly and revealed her forearm to Marcus. His eyes went wide as he took in what he saw there. The black mark burned onto Daphne's skin hissed at him as if it were alive, draining all of her energy, feeding off of Daphne.

"Bellatrix Lestrange destroyed every good part left inside of me," Daphne choked out. She rolled the sleeve down again quickly and stared at Marcus, a hopeful look in her eyes. "Please say something."

"D-Death Eater," he finally breathed out, an expression of absolute shock on his face. "I… I have to…"

He didn't finish his sentence as he turned his back on Daphne, with just one last look of absolute horror on his face and ran away from her. It stung her as he left, but Daphne pulled herself back together. She couldn't let that get to her. She had to keep looking, keep fighting, because if there was one thing Daphne knew, it was that Bellatrix Lestrange would take her last breath soon.

Katherine fussed with Rory in his bedroom. The child had taken to a tantrum because Marcus was gone and wasn't there to play with him. Now, Katherine was there with him, lulling her youngest son to sleep as she waited for her husband to return with Daphne.

Astoria sat outside in the main room on the sofa with her knees pulled up to her chest. Sam sat across from her, watching over her as they both waited in silence.

"She wants revenge," Astoria finally said, breaking their silence. She spoke in a monotone voice, all emotion gone from her. Sam leaned forward to hear her, his elbows resting against his knees.

"And don't you?" he asked.

"Killing her doesn't bring them back," Astoria shook her head. "But it's more for Daphne."

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't you wonder why Daphne seemed so distraught after the fight at the cabin?"

Astoria looked at him with those wide, dark eyes. Doll-like, even in her broken state. She was still beautiful, clear, porcelain skin, a red flush that seemed so intentional and those dark, dark eyes. He couldn't take his eyes off her, even as she fell apart. She trusted him, inexplicably. He seemed kind to her, understanding, like maybe, just maybe he'd understand why Daphne did it. Like he'd understand that she had no choice.

"What do you mean?"

"Daphne," Astoria began. "She's very skilled. She's very talented at the Dark Arts. Those are desirable traits these days."

"I don't understand."

"They wanted her," Astoria finally breathed out in a hushed tone so Katherine wouldn't hear. She put her knees down and leaned towards Sam. He was so close to him, that he could feel her breath on him. He could smell her clean scent. "They wanted her to be one of them."

"Do you mean…?" Sam's mouth fell open as the realization struck him. He leaned away from Astoria again and she did the same, both of them resting their backs against their chairs again. She nodded once, confirming what he believed.

"She's a…" Sam couldn't bring himself to say it.

"It's burned on her arm."

Sam was quiet, the shock had stunned him. He knew Daphne Greengrass was no saint, but she seemed, at least in the short time he'd known her, like such a good person. Not someone who would be tempted to go against all she believed in. Not someone to succumb to those pressures, no matter how much they had wanted her, Daphne didn't seem to Sam like the type to give in.

But she was. She did give in to them and join in. She'd given up what she believed in. And for what? Sam couldn't believe what Astoria was saying, but she had no reason to lie to him.

"I have to go," he said finally. Sam jumped up from his chair and shoved his wand into his back pocket. "I need some air."

"Wait please!" Astoria squeaked. She grabbed his arm as she walked away, pulling him back to her until they were standing very close together. She only came up to his shoulder though, but still, Astoria seemed to stand strong. "She's not a bad person. Don't go."

"I just need to clear my head," Sam told her. He didn't move though and Astoria kept her hand on his right arm, gently touching the bare skin.

"Okay," she finally whispered. Astoria dropped her hand from his bicep and looked down at her feet. Sam could see the top of her head, the black hair swirling back into her tight braid. She was so small, the same age as him, but somehow so small and tiny, like she was breakable and fragile. But that wasn't the girl he knew. The Astoria he knew was unbreakable, stronger than anyone else he'd ever met before. She held it together when she shouldn't have had to, kept her head held up high.

"I'll be back soon," Sam told her, but still didn't step away. Tentatively, he reached for Astoria's little hand, their fingers just touching.

"At least bring a jumper," Astoria responded. A little smile crept across her face as she looked down at her fingers, beginning to intertwine themselves with his. "It's getting cold."


	15. Fight

p class="MsoNormal"The little candle in the tent blew out as a gust of wind entered the room through the open flap. The cold breeze made Astoria shiver under her blanket and she rose to close the flap again. It had already become dark outside with the moon shining brightly overhead, just a crescent shaped sliver. Sam was still outside, though Astoria couldn't make out his blurry silhouette anymore. He hadn't been gone for more than five minutes, but Astoria still wanted him to come back soon. She didn't want to be alone, not while Daphne was gone./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Daphne and Marcus had been gone for nearly half an hour. Astoria would have thought that they'd have returned already, perhaps with Daphne kicking and screaming in Marcus's arms, but they hadn't. Though Katherine didn't show it, Astoria could tell that she was worried for her husband. Rory had long fallen asleep, but Katherine was up, pacing around the small bedroom./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Astoria could barely hear the older woman's footsteps over the wind that continued to howl outside. It was the kind of howl that made children curl up into their parents' beds for fear of werewolves and ghosts and all manner of monsters that may lurk in the night. Astoria wasn't afraid of anything that went thump in the night anymore. She was unperturbed by the howling, though it may have once frightened her too. It was just another part of nature. A normal part of her new life in the tent. The strong winds beat against the fabric, whistling through tree branches – howling like banshees./p  
p class="MsoNormal"And because of the strong wind, Astoria almost didn't hear it. A loud scream – a shout for help. It nearly disappeared within the violent winds, just another part of the nighttime gale. But Astoria did hear, she heard the shout over the din, at first she thinking that it was just a trick of the mind. But then she heard it again and jumped up to her feet. She still couldn't see anything in the dark, but outside, she heard the yell once again, loud and clear./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Katherine!" Astoria cried as recognition of the voice dawned on her. "Katherine come here quickly!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal"The brunette woman rushed out of the bedroom, wand in hand at Astoria's cry. "What's going on?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal""I heard a yell," Astoria explained as she pulled her jumped on over her shoulders and ran out the tent flap into the dark night./p  
p class="MsoNormal"~/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Walls crashed down all around Daphne as spells from both sides whizzed over her head as she ran through the crossfire of a castle full of simultaneous duels. All she could hear was destruction and screaming and people crying as their loved ones fell all around them. But Daphne had one goal in mind that day. She was not at Hogwarts Castle to fight for some noble cause or for the liberation of people she didn't know and didn't care for. Daphne Greengrass, for all her work in the rebellion against the Dark Lord, was still a Slytherin through and through. She was not there to make an honourable sacrifice for the betterment of society, she was there for revenge. Simple, sweet, pure revenge./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Vengeance: a bloodlust reserved for the one woman in the world who took everything away from her./p  
p class="MsoNormal"And so Daphne ran. She ran through the entirety of Hogwarts searching for that untameable black hair and devious smile. Bellatrix Lestrange though, was a hard woman to find. Daphne had been at Hogwarts for over an hour and had still not seen a single trace of her./p  
p class="MsoNormal"She decided that she'd be best off searching for Bellatrix from a higher vantage point. There didn't seem to be anyone up on the Astronomy tower, so Daphne decided to try her luck up there. Luckily, all the protective enchantments around Hogwarts had long been broken, so she apparated up to the top instead of climbing the gruelling staircase she remembered from those late night astronomy classes and frequent rebellious trips with her friends. As Daphne expected, the top of the Astronomy Tower was empty. No one else had felt any inclination to go all the way up there and from her spot, Daphne could see the chaos across the whole school grounds. Parts of the castle were sitting in ruins, the Quidditch pitch ablaze./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Daphne scanned across the entire ground, but she could not see Bellatrix Lestrange's unmistakable black mane. She spotted Professor McGonagall out near the edge of the forest and Mulciber next to Hagrid's hut, but not the one person Daphne had come to search for./p  
p class="MsoNormal""I thought I'd find you here," a voice from behind her said. Daphne whipped around and saw Marcus standing there, his brown jumper dirty with a bit of soot, but otherwise, looking unscathed. He held his hands behind his back and gave Daphne a weak smile./p  
p class="MsoNormal""You're looking for her," he said./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Daphne nodded, but didn't move any closer. There was still six feet between them, but she didn't feel the need at all to bridge that. "I can't find her," she said./p  
p class="MsoNormal""The Great Hall," Marcus said, gesturing down the staircase. "I saw Bellatrix duelling Flitwick. Tiny man, a lot of power."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Still, Daphne made no move towards the staircase, nor did she turn to disapparate away from the Astronomy Tower./p  
p class="MsoNormal""That first night," Marcus began. He looked Daphne directly into her dark, black eyes with an expression of empathy on his face. It wasn't one that she saw often directed to her. He had that spark in him, something that said that maybe, he'd grown to care for her. Marcus saw her as small, poor, parent-less little girl who had seen her world fall apart. She was just a child, a child who had seen and done more than was right./p  
p class="MsoNormal""You were delusional," he said in an almost whisper. Marcus was close to Daphne now, close enough to make her shiver at his words. "You were screaming and it didn't make any sense, but I understand now. It's her. She took your mind and soul away from you and that cannot be forgiven."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""I have to go," Daphne said, looking down at her feet. Her lip quivered, and she held her wand in both hands, as if she were afraid it would run away from her./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Revenge doesn't change anything," Marcus reminded her again. "But, I understand."/p  
p class="MsoNormal""You do?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal""Let me help you, Daphne."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"~/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Astoria tore through the forest with Katherine right at her heels, both of them wands drawn, as they followed the screams. Astoria could make out other voices, low ones, not all of them distinct, but she heard maybe three or four people. They gnarled, shouted, and cursed loudly between Sam's cries for help. Astoria could feel her heart racing inside her chest as she weaved around trees and over roots, tearing through the new spring flowers./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Sam!" Katherine's cry rang out behind her. Her voice broke as she cried out for her oldest son, her knees buckling as she finally came across the scene. Astoria turned and saw a look of absolute fury that she'd never seen on the woman's face before. Her wand slashed through the air with the speed and accuracy of a much more experience dueller, hitting one of the men square in the chest. Sam managed to scamper away, his wand in hand, towards his mother./p  
p class="MsoNormal"There were four men facing Astoria, Katherine, and Sam. They were snatchers, Astoria was sure, not skilled enough to have been called on by the Dark Lord to Hogwarts, but snatchers nonetheless. One man, dark, matted hair, and grey, almost sallow looking skin, leered at her with a gold capped tooth in his mouth./p  
p class="MsoNormal""What's worrying you, love?" the man jeered at Astoria. He sauntered towards her and she felt herself freeze up. Astoria clutched onto her wand tightly, but somehow, could not move, not even to save herself./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The man was coming closer towards her. Astoria could see the prison mark on his wrist and a large knife hanging from his belt. He gave off a pungent odour as he reached towards her. She flinched back, shutting her eyes tightly, but the man's rough fingers never touched her. Instead he felt a soft hand on her shoulder and a wand drawn out in front of her. The man was crashed against a tree several feet back, rubbing the mark forming on his forehead./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Don't touch her!" Sam shouted in a bit of a shaky voice. Astoria felt tears stringing her eyes, but this time, she raised her wand too. The man Sam jinxed was quickly back on his feet, fury in his eyes as his wand sliced through the air sending a curse towards Astoria and Sam./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Instinct took over. Astoria blocked the curse with a shield charm and sent another back at him without skipping a beat. "Impedimenta!" she shouted. The curse just missed him, but that was enough. The fight had begun between the four men and Astoria, Sam, and Katherine. Spells were flying across the forest, hitting trees and roots, the noise of explosions filling the once tranquil forest./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Astoria moved like a dancer across the forest floor. Her wand moved with grace befitting of her skill, but duelling for her life was not something Astoria and her wand were used to. Spells rebounded around her, shaking branches from trees, making the birds shriek out as they left their homes. Out of the corner of her eye, Astoria saw Katherine blast away a scraggly looking attacker. Bright red blood spurted from his arm as she stumbled away from the woman who before, had only ever healed wounds./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Astoria shuddered at the sight of the blood, slowing her just enough to allow a curse to hit her on the back of her head. Astoria was flung back into a tree with what felt like a rope yanking her backwards, nearly snapping her neck. Her head hit the tree trunk hard, echoing inside her head. For a moment, the world went fuzzy, but Astoria was back up again soon, undeterred from the fight./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Confrigo!" Astoria shouted. The spell made one of the men yelp with burns as the fire licked up his side and set his clothes ablaze. He furiously beat at the fire with a weak stream of water from his wand, but it almost consumed him already, making him walk around nothing more than a ball of fire. His screams were almost inhuman and Astoria flinched at the sound./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Stupefy." The man fell stunned onto the ground from Astoria's spell. His screaming stopped, but still, all around her, explosions and yelled out spells continued on and on./p  
p class="MsoNormal"emMake it stop/em, Astoria screamed inside her head. Her brain was pounding inside her head, screaming out in pain begging her to slow down, to stop, to end it all right there. The pounding felt like a drum again and again and again. She wanted to go home, she wanted to cry and shut her eyes and forget that anything was happening anywhere. As if she could close her eyes and then Astoria would be back in her comfortable bedroom at home with her mother and father downstairs. But they would never have that again. Now Astoria just really wanted Daphne to come back and make all this go away like she promised she always would. Her skilled sister could do that, she had promised to take care of them. Daphne was Astoria's hero, she could make anything go away./p  
p class="MsoNormal"But Daphne wasn't there and Astoria had to be her own hero./p  
p class="MsoNormal"~/p  
p class="MsoNormal"The Great Hall was unrecognizable. The furniture was smashed into wooden chips, the ornate high table where the professors once sat had become a dueling stage with a masked Death Eater fighting against some Order of the Phoenix member. The beautiful high windows were smashed, fires blazing below them. Even the enchanted ceiling was cracked and threatened to fall down on them all. Daphne sucked in a deep breath of sulfur as she and Marcus apparated into the hall. Her eyes were immediately drawn to her – Bellatrix Lestrange. Her black hair flew out behind her as a fire burned in front of her. She looked like a demon, just crawled out from the depths of hell./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Daphne froze in her tracks as she watched her tormentor, the person who took away her soul and her parents' lives, dance her wicked dance across the broken Great Hall. She felt her whole body freeze up, petrified, just like it always did in that dark, dark fortress./p  
p class="MsoNormal"emDarling child, I'll take care of you/em./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The memory of Bellatrix's voice hissing in Daphne's ear assaulted her. She said that she cared. emDaphne darling, I love you/em. That slimy voice and her false promises of safety and security. Bellatrix had lied through her teeth to Daphne, taken advantage of the naivety that people rarely got to see in her. She had trusted this demon with her family's lives. Daphne felt the rage once again boil up inside her, getting tunnel vision focused only on the degenerate witch./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Without even realizing what she was doing, Daphne turned her wand on her mentor. She sliced through the air turning Bellatrix's own signature spell on her, catching her by surprise. Bellatrix was flung across the room, but managed some mid-air twist, landing back on her feet facing her unexpected assailant. A sly grin on her face as she began to saunter towards Daphne./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Well, well, well," Bellatrix cackled. "My darling Daphne! You've come back to me!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Daphne gripped her wand tightly as sweat began to trickle down her forehead. She could feel herself freeze up, tense, the way she always did when Bellatrix approached. She could see nothing else but her one-time mentor's swaggering walk, that sly grin revealing a kind of rottenness and hardness gained from years in Azkaban. All around Bellatrix, Daphne's world blurred until it was all just darkness, darkness and emher./em Just like it was in that fortress, or was it a prison? Daphne wasn't sure, it was always so dark there./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Y-you don't scare me anymore," Daphne shouted as loudly as could, though her voice trembled. "You'll pay for what you did to me!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Still Bellatrix came closer and closer, ignoring Daphne's shouts and the spells she hurled her way. As if deflecting a simple jinx, Bellatrix blocked each and every one of her opponent's spells, that smile never leaving her face. Closer and closer, and still Daphne's skill betrayed her. She trembled and shook, scared of what punishment she would have this time./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Don't come any closer to me!" Daphne cried. She looked around furiously, finally shaking off her singular tunnel vision in time to see the Great Hall burst into flames around her. A ring of fire all around her and Bellatrix. Daphne could make out Marcus on the other side of the flames, shouting for her, crying out for her, but he couldn't reach her. He couldn't help her, no one could, just like always./p  
p class="MsoNormal"And Bellatrix pounced. Daphne was knocked off her feet as Bellatrix pressed her wand into her chest, burning through her clothes, searing her skin. She had a snarl on her face, like some kind of animal's growling mug./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Blood traitor," Bellatrix spat into her face. "You and your whole filthy family. You don't deserve the mark bestowed on your arm."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Still squirming under Bellatrix's weight, Daphne tried to cry out as Bellatrix reached for her left arm and rolled up the sleeve of her ripped and dirty jumper. It had once been white, pure white cashmere, a gift from her parents a few birthdays ago. But now it was stained with soot and sulfur and dirt and the unmistakable red flowers that came only from blood. Bellatrix's wand sliced through Daphne's skin, cutting her like a knife around the area were her terrible tattoo was burned./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Daphne's screams echoed through the hall, but almost no one heard over the other yells, the other screams from people crying out all around her. Daphne shut her eyes again, wishing to see, to feel nothing at all, but she couldn't. She closed her eyes and remembered the dungeon with the Carrows, she opened them and there was Bellatrix giving out her punishment in the Great Hall and then in that dark fortress. The flames around Daphne turned into the cold, stone walls, the cry of the other combatants suddenly disappeared, there was only Bellatrix and there was only her./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Daphne shut her eyes again, blocking out her own screams until she was lost inside her own head, unfeeling. Nothing else existed for a moment and there was just nothingness. She could no longer feel Bellatrix's weight on top of her, nor could she feel the sharp jab in her arm, the blood forming in a pool around her./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Daphne, come on!" a voice shouted at her snapping her back into reality in the fiery Great Hall. She opened her eyes to find a bandage wound around her left arm, the pain gone, Bellatrix disappeared. Instead Marcus pulled her to her feet and pulled her away from the circle of flames that threatened to gulp up the both of them./p  
p class="MsoNormal""How…?"/p  
p class="MsoNormal""I may have a boring desk job now, but I used to be a pretty good duellist in sch-"/p  
p class="MsoNormal"The smile was still on his face, his wand still drawn in front, his warm hand, suddenly cold, was still holding Daphne's as he fell pulling her down with him. His warm brown eyes, once having so much warmth were suddenly empty as a scream escaped from Daphne's lips./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Marcus!" she cried shaking his body and turning him so he was facing up towards the broken ceiling. His eyes were still open, but he was unmoving. "Get up!" Daphne howled./p  
p class="MsoNormal"She turned around and saw Bellatrix still coming towards her with that ever-present grin. "Did I do that?" she asked with her eyes wide. "Oops."/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Daphne got to her feet and her wand bolted through the air sending a jet of green light at Bellatrix. She dived and missed death by an inch, but Daphne was still at it, sending deadly spell after deadly spell, fire dancing in her eyes. Passion there, the kind of passion she thought that she'd never feel again after Bellatrix beat her down and destroyed her in that fortress. There was light in her eyes again as she fought back with every fibre of her being./p  
p class="MsoNormal"But still, Bellatrix Lestrange had decades of experience on Daphne Greengrass. She was the one who taught the young girl every trick she knew, so she could beat Daphne at every turn. Bellatrix knew her every weak point because she had already carefully exploited them once before, but now was different, now Daphne had nothing to lose. Her parents were dead, Marcus was dead, she had no friends, Astoria was safe under a Fidelius Charm, she had no family left in the country./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Avada kedavra!" Daphne shouted. An angry green jet shot out from her wand and exploded off the wall just inches left of Bellatrix's head. "Incendio! Expulso! Crucio!"/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Her spells, all missing their target or deflected by Bellatrix's impossibly nimble hand, exploded on the wall behind her, threatening to send it crashing down. Daphne hoped, though she knew a witch as skilled as Bellatrix would never allow it, that the wall would crush her enemy./p  
p class="MsoNormal"But the wall did begin to crumble. It began to fall, slowly at first, just little bricks crashing against the floor and smashing to bits around Bellatrix, but then more and more fell. The stones began to rain down around Bellatrix's shield charm protecting herself from them. Daphne watched in awe as it seemed like just maybe the castle was on her side./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Just as the last chunks of bricks began to rain down, Bellatrix opened her arms, as if she were being crucified and screamed out her banshee shout as all those heavy stones and rocks whipped towards Daphne before she even had to chance to throw up a shield. Wind swirled around Bellatrix like some kind of tornado carrying all the debris as if they were just pebbles. Daphne didn't even have time to scream before it all went black./p  
p class="MsoNormal"As Daphne fell under the pile of rocks burying her, across the Great Hall, a red stunner hit Bellatrix in the back and she too saw the world turn black./p  
p class="MsoNormal"~/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Astoria had never turned her wand on anyone else before in a real duel. She'd never in her life caused another person pain with her magic, let alone dueled to kill. She was inexperienced in the art of duelling, but watching her in the forest, as she danced on her toes around the four grown men hell bent on capturing her dead or alive, Astoria could have easily been mistaken for a season professional. Her spells ricocheted off of trees and around stones like firecrackers, the lights looking like colourful beams of lightening illuminating the dark night./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Green. Red. Blue. Purple. White. Yellow./p  
p class="MsoNormal"They were like fireworks – beautiful, but these were also deadly. Astoria could feel herself losing blood on her right arm, but she had no time to heal herself up between dodging curses and firing them back at her enemies. Even worse, it was hard to tell who was enemy and who was foe in this dark night. Katherine had cast a light above the clearing, but still, Astoria had to squint to see in the darkness more than once./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Another purple light illuminated the clearing, making all the trees shine, bathing them all in that ethereal light. She didn't recognize the spell at all, Astoria thought it was perhaps some kind of dark magic that she'd never encountered before. It filled the whole the clearing, looking like the kind of light that then rebounded off the person, like Northern Lights on the ground./p  
p class="MsoNormal"The purple light was just bright enough for Astoria to watch as its mark slumped to the ground, blue eyes still wide open, screaming out in pain as he erupted with blood. Her eardrums were assaulted simultaneously by another earth-shattering shriek as Katherine dropped to her knees beside her fallen son. Astoria watched helplessly as Sam bled out all over the dark grass, the red seeming much too bright to even be real. Katherine cried out, waving her wand over his body and mumbling all the spells she could, but without the help of all the resources in St Mungo's, she could do nothing for him. They were so close too, just a few feet back and they'd have been safe. Astoria could see their tan tent and sizzling fire in the protected clearing just behind them./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Katherine and Astoria were severely outnumbered now and with Katherine bent over her son and Astoria frozen to her spot, they certainly had no chance. The Snatchers closed in on them, but still, Katherine wept and Astoria stared, until finally she wasn't just staring anymore./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Astoria raised her wand and stared intently at her target with the tears welling up under her eyes./p  
p class="MsoNormal""Everte Statum," she whispered. Katherine's eyes went wide as Astoria's spell flung her and Sam, who's breathing was getting shallower and shallower, back into the camp, leaving the teenage girl alone among the four Snatchers./p  
p class="MsoNormal"~/p  
p class="MsoNormal"Draco Malfoy watched as his aunt fell to the floor with a thud among a pile of crushed rocks and debris from the falling castle. He ran towards her, but then right past her, his wand raised at another pile of rocks, lifting them all up and flinging them wherever else there seemed to be space at a frantic pace. He kept digging through the pile, flinging the stones until he saw that peek of raven black hair and pale skin covered in angry red cuts. Daphne's once lovely white jumper was all covered in dirty and torn up so much that Draco could have seen the Dark Mark on her forearm had it not been covered in those white bandages and red blossoms./p  
p class="MsoNormal"Daphne's hand stirred as Draco lifted more of the rocks burying her, but her face was blank. Her eyes were shut tight with bruises and cuts forming all over her. Her breathing was shallow, but she was still alive. Draco picked her up, grunting a bit under her weight, but then ran off with Daphne slowly inching further and further away from their world./p 


End file.
